Sketching tomorrow: A Clannad fanfiction
by WhovianDango
Summary: James Walker is a talented amateur artist. After suffering some traumatic events in his past he moves to Japan along with his mum. Meeting a new group of friends along the way. (Note for reader's the first few chapters aren't that well written but it gets better as it progresses)
1. prologue: The start of change

Sketching Tommorow a Clannad fanfiction.

Prologue: The start of change

James Walker was 17 years old. He was of average hight with blue eyes brown hair sideburns a grey flat-cap and a brown trench-coat.

He was on a plane on his way to Japan. He and his mother were moving there from England. He was moving to a small town called Hikarizaka. He had spent 18 months learning how to speak Japanese and had become allmost fluent at it.

But he felt nervous.  
"What if i say somthing wrong and offend somone?!" James thought to himself. James didnt have much confidence and had no social skills. He had hung out with only two friends at his school in england for the last 3 years since he had moved from another more rough school before that.

All his friends and memories would all be in the past within a few hours. But he didnt want that to happen. He didnt want to just move on and forget. He wanted things to stay as they were...

This was too big a change. His mother was moving to escape family issues that she had been dealing with for the past year. She had been looking increasingly ill latly and would lay in bed for most of the day. When James would ask what was wrong however she would always change the subject.

James looked out into the sky and the ground far below. It really made him realise how small and insucnificant he was to the rest of the world. Just a tiny speck on an overgrown planet...

"Wish i had a sketchpad with me..." James thought as he looked at the flat ground below...

He put his head against the window and thought about the past. For some reason only bad memories would ever come to mind. He had very few happy memories of his short life.

He slowly began to drift asleep...

 **He seemed to be in his old bedroom. It was quite small one bed a wardrobe and a couple bookshelves filled the room. The TV lay on one of the bookshelves showing nothing but static. Suddenly the door slammed open. A shadowy man began to mess up the room throwing clothes on the floor and smashing the tv.**

 **The shadowy man began to shout at James in a devilish voice. He couldnt make out what he was saying.**

 **"No dad no!" shouted James**

James woke up. He was breathing heavily and sweating all over. James looked around and sighed. "It was just a dream!" he thought.

His mother sat in the seat next to him fast asleep.

His mother "Victoria" was a short woman with black greying hair and rather large glasses. she had started to look older than she actully was due to all the stress.

"I wonder what she's dreaming about?..." James thought to himself.

Hours later they arrived in Japan at last. It was a rush to get all their bags and themselves off the plane and outside of the airport as quickly as possible. Japan was known for its tight schedules.

They took a Taxi into the town although James was unhappy and nervous about all the changes and the fact that he might never see England or his friends again he deeply enjoyed the sights. Lots of buildings trees and feilds covered the area.

It took them several minuets to pay the driver as they were still getting use to the currency. They eventully were able to pay him although the driver seemed pretty annoyed that it had taken this long to recive his pay. After the taxi drove off they began to walk through the town.

Hikarizaka was a pretty busy town full of people and James began to get nervous and started whimpering. Victoria simply patted James on the head "you'll get use to it!" she said to him kindly.

James had to ask people for directions since his mother was still having trouble with speaking Japanese. They were trying to find their flat but had no idea where anything was in the town.

Eventully they stopped by what a appeared to be a small shop James saw the sign which merely read "Furukawa Bakery"

"Let's see if theres anyone in this shop!" James said to his mother. "Maybe they will know the directions..."

They entered the shop. It felt quite cramped due to the small amount of space there was to move around in. So much bread was on display. James took a deep breath as he smelled the scent of fresh bread and then he began to look at what was on display.

Most of it looked fairly were rolls subs loafs and...bread rolls with crabs inside?

James grabbed the grabbed bread to see if it actually was a crab inside. "What the heck?" james said to himself as he inspected it."What kind of people run this place? Very weird!"

James hadnt noticed but a women had come into the shop through the backdoor. She had long brown hair yellow eyes and a large blue bow in her hair.

"Oh hello there!" Jamese's mother said as she waved to the women "pherhaps you could.." but before she could say anything else the woman started sobbing heavily

"M-my bread is weird?" the woman ran out of the shop sobbing "It's no wonder it never sells!"

"Uh oh!" James said to himself

"My!" said Victoria "What a strange woman!"

Suddnely a man came out from the back of the shop carrying a baseball bat. He was a lot taller than the woman. He had redish pink hair and yellow eyes which had a look of firey hatred too them

"I dont know who you think you are kid but knowone criticizes Sane's bread and gets away with it but me!"

The next thing James knew the man had grabbed him by the shirt and dangled him from the ground. "Kid your coming with me!"

James started screaming in panic "PUT MY SON DOWN RIGHT NOW!" Victoria shouted to the man. "ALL WE WANT IS DIRECTIONS TO OUR FLAT!"

Akio gave James an angry stare and put him down "Ah i see...sorry. I'll help you if i know where your flat is"

Victoria gave Akio a piece of paper that she'd written the address down on.

"Hmm...i think i know where that is!"

Victoria patted Akio on the back "Oh thank you mr?"

"Just call me Akio" he replied. "By the way.." Akio said as he grabbed some bread from one of the shelves and put them in a plastic bag. "You can have these for free!"

"Oh how kind!" exclaimed Victoria as she took the bag.

"Oh its no problem" Sanae's bread rarly sells so it will go to waste anyway!"

"Argh!" shouted Akio

James and Victoria looked behing them. Senae was back and had started crying again.

"M-my breads just worthless to you?!" Sanae ran out crying again.

"Oh god!" Akio shouted as he began to grab several pieces of bread and shove them all down his mouth as he ran out of the shop.

"I LUV YOUR BREAD!" they heared Akio shout as he ran outside.

James felt that this whole experience was insane "Um..i think we should ask somone else for directions!" James said as he rubbed his head feeling embaressed.

Victoria merely shook her head "No that man said he knew the way so we'll just wait! You just need to learn to be pacient!"

James sighed and started thinking. Suddenly though he was interupted by what sounded like singing upstairs. He began to listen more closly.

"Dango dango dango dango dango dango family!"

"What a strange tune!" James thought to himself "Ah well who cares!"

They waited for about 15 minuets before Akio and Senae returned to the shop.

Sanae gave them an embaressed laughed "I'm very sorry about that!" she said. "Victoria began to laugh "Dont worry its fine!"

"So anyway" said Akio "I'd better help you find your way to your flat!"

"Thank you so much!" Victoria exclaimed"

"So are you new in town?" Senae asked them

Victoria smiled "Yes we've moved here from England!"

"England ha?" Akio asked "I hear its's a nice country!"

James laughed "Haha! It is! But we've moved because of personal reasons"

"Well its been nice to meet you" exclaimed Sanae. "Oh my goodness! We havent been properly introduced!" I'm Senae Furukawa and this is my husband Akio!"

Victoria put her arm around James "I'm Victoria Walker and this is my son James!"

James smiled feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Nice to meet you!" they both said.

"These two sure are different..." James thought to himself

It took about twenty minuets for Akio to be able to find their flat.

The flat wasnt as tall as those in england and there were a lot of stairs to climb and there was also no lift for some reason. Akio helped with the bags which where quite heavy there were many corridors that they passed and everything looked quite old. They eventully found the door to their area of the flat "Number 66" Victoria opened the door with the key and they moved all their bags into the front room.

It was avarage size for a front room. A radiator was on the wall which needed to be turned on since the room was pretty cold. The carpet had some tears in it but wasnt too bad the wall also looked like it could do with a lick of paint though he would check out the other rooms after everything was unpacked one small window stood towards the edge of the room which had a small crack in the middle.

Akio put the bags in the center of the room and brushed off his trousers. "Say do you need help unpacking?" He asked.

"No no its fine!" Laughed Victoria.

"Um" James started "I probably should have asked this back in the shop but do you have a daughter or somthing? It's just i heared somone singing some tune while you and your wife were gone"

"Oh that'd be our daughter Nagisa!" He showed James a photo of his daughter. He couldnt make out her height but she looked around the same age as him. She had short brown hair and yellow eyes. "She looks a lot like Akio's wife!" James thought to himself "If i didnt know any better i would think they were sisters or somthing..."

He suddenly noticed the uniform "Does your daughter attend Hikarizaka private high school?"

"Yeah" Akio replied "what about it?"

"W-well" James stuttered "I will be starting at that school this monday actually!"

"Ah i see!" Akio began to turn around when he suddenly turned his head "Nagisa's been having trouble making friends for the past year. Watch out for her. Try and be friends with her if your able to!"

James tried his best to hide the fact that he was blushing "I-i will try sir!"

Akio opened the door and stepped outside into the hallway "one more thing!"

"Yes?" asked James.

"You any good at baseball? I'd like to have a game with you somtime."

James began to think about it. He'd never been particually good at sports but he thought he may give it a go "I dont really play any sports but i will give it a go somtime i guess.."

"I look forward to it!" Akio smiled as he walked through the hallway.

"bye Akio!" waved Victoria. She turned to james and put her hands on his shoulders. "Well we'd best start unpacking!"

James gave a deep breath and rubbed his forehead "man this is gonna take a while!"

It took several hours to sort everything out. By the time they were done it was late at night. He'd had to set up all the electrics like the TV and stereo's he put the various pots and pans in the kitchens. The kitchen was far too small and it looked like if too much were to be done in there at once an accident would most likly happen.

The front room now had a sofa a televsion and some pictures on the walls. The bathroom was basically a hallway. Bath-tub on one side toilet on the other with a small mirror looking towards the bath-tub with a sink underneath.

His mum had wanted to sort out her bedroom herself so the only thing he'd had left to do was his room. It took two and a half hours too set everything up.

His bed lay on the left side of the room. A small table with a lamp stood next to it. A shelf with books VHS tapes and DVD's stood on the right side and a stack of canveses sketch pads pens papers and inks stood near the window. A small grey bag lay on the bed. He began to put his sketch pad and pencils into to "This should give me somthing to do in my spare time at school!" James said to himself as he packed all of it in.

He threw the bag onto the floor jumped onto the bed and began to rest.

 **James was in a classroom tied to a chair. He had been gagged with a piece of duck tape. Three tall buffed up students stood in front of him laughing. One of them opened a window and gestured to the other to boys to come over to the window.**

 **The two boys grabbed the chair.**

 **They were going to throw him out the window!**

 **The two boys brought him closer and began to rock the chair back and fourth.**

 **1...**

 **2...**

 **3...**

 **SMASH!**

 **The glass had smashed and Jameses face had broken glass and blood all over it. He went to the ground faster and faster when he finally hit the ground!**

James woke up in a sweat. He'd fallen off the bed and his head felt sore.

"Argh crap!" James groaned as he rubbed his head.

He slowly got up opened the bed covers and crept back into bed. But he began to think about the dream. "What if that actually happens to me? What if I'm bullied by everyone..."

James didnt sleep again that night. He kept thinking of all the bad things that had happened in his last school.

The people who'd bullied him the girl who had used him...

These thoughts continued to haunt James throughout the day. He stayed in his room all day as he felt too tired to do anything else. He wanted to draw sketch and paint but he didnt feel up to it.

The Monday finally came...

" Wake up!" shouted Victoria "ugh" grumbled James

"James get up! Your gonna be late for school!"

"James suddenly jumped straight out of bed.

"Shit!" James quickly washed got changed and brushed his teeth. He then rushed out of the flat "I'll eat when i get home!" He shouted as he ran down the stairs and out of the building

He suddenly realised that he didnt know the way to the school! He decided to go to the Bakery to see if Akio or Senae could give directions.

"It's down that way!" Akio pointed "T-thanks!" gasped James who was out of breath from running to the bakery. James took a deep breath and began to run to the school. "Remember to speak to Nagisa" Akio shouted as James ran.

As he got further and further he noticed more and more people in the same school uniform that he'd seen in the photo of Nagisa that Akio had shown him.

He got a lot of odd stares from passing students due to the fact he wasnt wearing a uniform. He wore a grey hoodie red shirt and blue trousers. He hoped that the school could supply him with a uniform.

He began to get panicky. The amount of people in the school was too much. far more than the amount of people in both his last schools combined!

He stopped by some cherry tree's and began to breath heavily. "Ok calm down! Just calm down!" James said to himself He took one final breath and slowly began to walk up the hill to school.

It was quite windy and the leaves from the cherry tree's were blowing everywhere. kind of like snow in a way. James felt like he had to sketch these cherry tree's somtime...

He Suddenly noticed a girl standing in the middle of the hill. He immedietly recognized her.

"So thats Nagisa!" He thought as he was walking up. He thought about what Akio had said about Nagisa not behing good at making friends. He knew how that felt. Even when he had made friends in his last school he would be alone a lot of the time. He was about to walk up to Nagisa and introduce himself but stopped and hesitated.

"I cant do it!" he though "I just cant do it!" He began to get that feeling whenver he got into a nervous situation. He felt a horrible tingeling feeling in his stomach his legs felt like stone and he began shaking a little.

He took a deep breath and began to continue his journey up the hill.

"Do you like this school?" He heared a quite female voice ask.

He turned around and saw Nagisa but she wasnt talking to him. She was stood next to some guy. He was a bit taller than Nagisa he had blue hair blue eyes and was of average build.

He began to walk further up the hill and towards the school.

"And so this is where my new life begins..."


	2. Chapter 1: first meetings

Sketching Tommorow: A Clannad fanfiction

Chapter 1: First meetings

James walked slowly up the hill. The ground felt bumpy and he tried hard to keep his balance. The area was covered with cherry blossom tree's on both sides. The leaves fell down to the ground and blew in the wind. It reminded James of the heavy snow storms that had happened in england over the years. He noticed more students further up the hill and the weird looks continued. He stuck out like a sore thumb with no uniform. Every one else wore uniforms in a pale yellow colour. The boys wore dark blue jumpers and trousers while the girls wore the same jumper with a sort of cape around them and blue skirts with white socks. All the uniforms had the school logo on the front pockets but in different colours. Some with green some with red and some with blue. James assumed this meant the grades that some students were in like sophomore freshmen and senior.

"Who is that?" Whispered one student "Is he suppose to be here?"

James was beginning to get nervous again. "Just ignore it!" he thought to himself. He stopped for a moment and looked at the school building. It was quite large and looked a little old and worn. It seemed that the building was already packed with students as he saw many of them wandering around through the windows. Many of the students outside just talked to each other. Nothing much was happening at all and it reminded him of the times with his old friends at school.

He brushed up the courage to walk to the main entrance. A lot of students were all walking in there at once.

He took one step forward Suddenly he felt a hand grab his shoulder.

"Excuse me!" said an elderly voice

James turned around and backed away slightly so the man could remove his hand from James'es shoulder.

The man was quite old he appeared to be in his 60s perhaps 70s with white grey hair a large moustache and wore a green suit with a blue tie and grey trousers. He kept his eyes closed for some reason. Perhaps he had bad eyesight or somthing. He was an old man after all...

"Y-yes?" James stuttered at the shock of behing touched which he hated especially from strangers. He looked to the ground as he was always shy with looking at anyone in the face.

"Are you the new student James Walker?" the man asked.

"Yes" James replied "Are you one of the teachers?"

"Yes I'm the English teacher " The man replied "I was told that you were coming today. Welcome to the school!"

James started to get even more nervous. "T-thank you!" He stuttered "Um sorry to ask but where do i get a uniform from?"

"Eh?" muttered. He hadnt noticed that James wasnt in uniform. "Oh!" He laughed "I see your not in uniform! Sorry but at my age i dont notice these things as much!" Your class representive arrives around this time! She will show you where to find a uniform!"

"She?" James thought in panic. His heart began to beat fast and he swear he could actully hear it out loud. James was never good with girls. Even though he was always very quiet with talking to people it was even worse for him with women around the same age as him. He'd only ever gotten close with one girl and that had ended horribly. "never again..." James thought "I wont let anyone use me like that again!"

"Then" continued "She'll take you to your class!.

James'es feet began shaking and started to feel like he was glued to the ground.

"Ah there she is!" began to wave " !"

James looked and apeared to be waving at two girls. One was short with blue eyes shoulder length light purple hair a white ribbion clipped on and the other was taller with purple eyes long light purple hair and just like the other girl had a white ribbion clipped onto it.

"I'm assuming they're related?" James thought as the two girls rushed over to

"Yes ?" asked the girl with the shorter hair

The girl with the longer hair looked at James oddly

raised his hand to James

"Ryou this is James Walker. He's a new student joining today and as your his classes representative I thought it would be best for you to show him where to find a uniform and then show him around the school!

James felt like he had a lump in his throat as he kept his eyes on the ground. He had noticed the other girl staring at him intensely "I hope she's not thinking I'm staring at they're breasts!" James though as he went red in the face at the thought of it.

"H-hello!" James said to the short haired girl but she just gave him a confused glance. "H-hello?" He said again. He suddenly noticed that he had greeted her in English rather than Japanese!

James cleared his throat "H-hello!" he said in Japanese. The short haired girl gave an awkward Laugh "Hello I'm Ryou Fujibayashi!"

"Well I'd better get going!" said as he began to walk off.

"I'll see you later Kyou!" Ryou said to the long haired girl. "She you later sis!" Kyou replied. She brushed past James and whispered to him "You'd better not do any horrible to my sister!"

"She's definitely a bully..." James mumbled to himself as Kyou walked off

"S-so..." Ryou muttered and she began to blush a little "I'll show you where to get your uniform!"

She slowly began to walk to the entrance. James hadnt noticed but Ryou was just as nervous and didnt look him in the eye.

They walked up to the entrance where the students were all rushing to get in "E-excuse me!" Ryou said quietly but the students didnt hear her. She turned her head and looked at James still blushing "S-sorry about this!"

They waited for a few minuets before they were finally able to get into the building. They walked through long corridors that seemed endless and all looked the same. James thought that he could easily get lost here.

"How do you get use to all this?" he asked Ryou. She merely laughed "Dont worry you'll get use to it! I was the same when i started here!"

"Hopfully!" James replied. "I admire you for behing the class representative! It's somthing i wouldnt be able to do!"

Ryou blushed a little "W-well I was actually voted in. It's not really somthing i would do since i'm not very confident but i try my best!"

James stopped suddenly...

He began to get brief flashbacks in his mind. The same thing had happened to him in his last school!

Ryou looked at James with concern "A-are you Ok? um James wasnt it? Uh I mean Walker!"

James suddenly came back to reality "Oh sorry!" James scratched his head and gave an embaressed laugh "I was just thinking of somthing! By the way you can call me James!" James found it silly that you had to reffer to people by their last names in Japan. "um ok...James" Ryou mummbled.

They eventully found a small room filled with uniforms Ryou had to help James find one in his size which took several minuets but they eventully found one.

"I'm just gonna get changed!" James said

"I'll wait outside!" Ryou replied as she walked out and quickly shut the door and began to wait.

"Ryou!" She looked and Kyou was walking in her direction.

"Hi sis!" Ryou shouted as Kyou came closer. Kyou glanced over at the door "So how are things with the new guy?"

Ryou blushed "Um..good! Have you seen okazaki?

Kyou sighed and then grinned "Yeah i saw him wandering around as usual! Probably gonna be late again!"

"Ah!" Ryou suddenly had an idea "Maybe I'll read his fourtune later!

Kyou laughed slightly "If you want! Now listen!" Kyou walked closer and began to whisper to Ryou "Watch out for the new guy! Notice how he didnt look at either of us in the face earlier? You know what that means!"

Ryou went completly red in the face "What?!" She gasped "Y-you dont mean..."

"Yep!" Kyou replied "staring at our breasts!" "If he touches you tell me and I'll rip him apart!"

Ryou started Panicking and began waving her arms "I-i dont think its anything like that sis!" "I think he's just shy!" Kyou glanced at Ryou with an intense look.

Suddenly the door opened and James appeared. He looked in suprised when he noticed Kyou "Oh hi! Kyou wasnt it?"

Kyou looked at James angrily "Thats Fujibayashi to you!" Kyou shouted as she stormed off. They hadnt noticed but she'd been trying to stop herself from attacking James...

"W-whats with her?" James asked in shock "N-nothing!" Ryou shouted trying not to look embarrassed. "So I take it you've put your old clothes in your bag?" She asked trying to make conversation.

"Only place I can put them!" he laughed

Ryou gave an embarrassed laugh "Yeah true!" She began scratching the back of her head "Why did I ask such a stupid question?!" she thought.

James took a deep breath and said "Well you'd better show me around as quickly as you can! It would be bad if both of us were late for class!"

Ryou gasped in shock as she suddenly became aware of the time! "R-right!" she said in a panicky voice.

She showed James all around the school. They went past the different classrooms lunch rooms youth centers etc until they eventully came to a small room.

"This is the second library!" Ryou said as she walked through the door.

"Second Library?" James asked "You havent even shown me the first one!" he chuckled as they went inside.

It was fairly small for a library. A lot of old books were scattered across the shelves. A televsion and some VHS tapes lay on the table and some cooking equitment stood at the end of the room.

"Well this place is pretty random!" James laughed as he scratched his head.

James suddenly looked around "I'm suprised there isnt a librarian around here or somthing!"

"One of the students Yukine Miyazawa runs this place! Ryou explained "Most of the unused books go here but a lot of people just come here to ask Miyazawa for advice!"

James browsed through some of the spines on the book's although he didnt really understand what most said

"Excuse me a minuet.." Ryou muttered as she browsed through a shelf. "Ah here it is!"

She plucked an old looking purple book from one of the top shelves. "So whats that?" James asked with interest

"Oh!" Ryou blushed "It's a book on fourtune telling! It's kind of my hobby!"

"Oh wow!" James gasped in suprise "Have many of your fourtunes come true?

Ryou thought about it for a few seconds "About 50/50!"

"hmm thats interesting" James mummbled.

"Since Miyazawa isnt here I'll come back for the book later!" Ryou suddenly checked her watch and gasped in shock "We'd better get to class!" I'll continue the tour later if thats ok!

"Sure thing! James said as he and Ryou began walking out of the library.

"So James tell me..."Ryou asked quitly "Do you have any hobbies?"

"Art is my hobby I'll be honest! James began grinning a little "I do a lot of painting and sketching when I'm at home!"

"wow!" Ryou gasped in suprise "So are you any good?"

"um" James thought for a few seconds "Well I dont know it depends on how i feel about it. I've brought my sketchpad with me so i can show you some stuff I've already done if your interested!"

"Sure!" Ryou replied "If you want i can read your fourtune later?"

"Yeah thats fine! James said as he looked at a passing clock.

"James if there's anything you want help with just let me know!" Ryou said as she blushed again "Since your new your gonna need help finding your way around this place!

"Allright! He exclaimed "And if theres anything you want help with let me know!"

So far it seemed James had found at least one friend with Ryou.

They eventully found "Class 3-D which was of course their class. Ryou and James slowly came inside

"The teachers not here!" Ryou said to James "We made it with a few minuets to spare!" Ryou pointed at a seat towards the end of the classroom by a big window. "Theres a seat for you!"

"Thanks!" James replied as he began to walk over to the seat.

He sat down and looked outside the window there wasnt much of a view just a tiny courtyard with some benches and a few tree's.

James took out all his booms from his bag. He was sure he'd need to buy a larger one at this rate since it was starting to rip from all the weight inside it.

He took out his clothes and carfully began to fold them. He then placed his books back into the bag they were all thick and heavy and were hard to fit inside even before he'd put his clothes in the bag! He then placed a small bottle of water into the bag and made sure it wasnt leaking.

He glanced at the clock. He probably had at least 10 minuets before the lesson started. He brought out his sketch book and began to draw the view outside. It was a little difficult to concentrait due to all the noise in the classroom but he tried to ignore it.

He suddenly heared a large thump in front of him. A guy with blue hair sat in the chair in front of him. He couldnt make out the face since James was looking at the guy from behind. He continued with his sketching and paid little attention to the guy.

"um...Okazaki?" James turned his eyes to the right and noticed Ryou was talking to the guy in front of him. "Yeah what is it?" He replied

Ryou blushed " Looks like your a little late again"

"So?" He replied

"W-well I think you should come to school on time more.." She said quitly.

James listened. He though Ryou seemed shyer than before.

Okazaki grinned "Oh? You know your starting to sound like the class leader or somthing?!

"Ryou went even more red "I-i am the class leader!"

"Hey Okazaki!" One student shouted "Dont make her cry otherwise you'll have her sister after you!"

James noticed that Ryou actually had started crying but she tried to cover her face to hide it. " Dont worry I-i'm not crying at all!" She shouted and suddenly started breathing heavily

Okazaki just gave a rather board sigh "I'll try and come in early tommorow!"

Ryou suddenly put her left hand in her left pocket "H-how about I read your fourtune for tommorow?"

James looked with interest whereas Okazaki did not seem interested at all.

Ryou began shuffling her cards when she suddenly dropped them and they went all over the floor.

Okazaki was about to pick up the cards when Ryou interupted him "It says your going to be late tommorow!"

James tried his best not to laugh at that. Okazaki suddenly stood up "Are you trying to make me mad?!"

"surely this guy wont try and attack her?" James thought

"I-its just what the cards say! I-i think its your future!"

"My future?" Okazaki asked in disbelief.

Ryou nodded "Tommorow you'll have a romantic meeting with a sweet girl! You'll forget all about the time and thats why your going to be late!"

"That's amazing! James thought

"So pacific!" Okazaki mumbled

"Call it a maidens inspiration! Ryou said as she started going red in the face again.

James chuckled at that last comment.

" **Tomoya Okazaki!"**

James Okazaki and Ryou all looked at the direction of the door. Suddenly a book came flying! Okazki ducked quickly as the book bounced off the window and whacked James right on the top of his head!

Kyou suddenly burst into the room. "You've got some nerve picking on my little sister you fleebrain!" She suddenly grabbed Okazaki by the tie and held him up in the air "I'm gonna beat you!"

Ryou suddenly started panicking "S-sis he wasnt..."

"And you!" She suddenly grabbed James by the root of his hair "Argh!" he shouted as he tried to get Kyou's hand off his head

"Stay away from my sister you damn pervert!" She shouted.

"Will you relax i was only talking to her!" Okazaki shouted

"And I'm not a pervert!" James also shouted

"They havent done anything at all!" Ryou shouted

Kyou just have them both a blank look "Hmm in that case..." She released them both.

"Argh Jesus my head!" James muttered as he started rubbing it while Okazaki started putting his tie back in place.

"Kyou looked down at the cards "Oh were you reading fourtunes?" she asked

"Yeah" Okazaki replied "It says i'll have a romantic meeting with a sweet girl tommorow!" he said in an unamused voice

"Is that so?" Kyou grinned "Whats with that face?!" Okazaki asked

"Nothing at all lover boy!" She shouted as she walked out of the class laughing

Ryou and Okazaki just stared at each other blankly.

"Whats her problem?!" James asked

"S-sorry! "Ryou shouted in a shaky voice "She can be quite violent!"

"I'll say!" James groaned "Your complete opposites!"

Okazaki suddenly noticed James "Hey are you new or somthing?" he asked.

"Oh this is James walker!" Ryou blushed "He's just starting here today!"

James stood up and raised his hand "As she said I'm James walker!" So your Okazaki right?" he asked

"Tomoya Okazaki!" He replied as he sat back down in his chair not bothering to shake hands. "Hope you like this place cause your gonna be stuck here for a while!"

Suddenly Okazaki got up again and began to walk out of the classroom "I'm going!"

Ryou started to go after him "Okazaki stop! Y-you cant.." but he had already left before she could finish the sentence.

"Ah he's one of those guys right?" James asked

"What do you mean?" Ryou asked in confusion

"I mean he's one of those guys who comes to class whever he wants and dosent pay attention in lessons?"

Ryou looked at the floor sadly "Yeah..."

"Oh I hate people like that!"James thought.

Ryou bent down and began picking up her cards from the floor.

"So do you think your fourtune that you gave to Okazaki will come true?" he asked her. Ryou just smiled "Maybe!"

Ryou began walking back to her chair when James suddenly remembered "Oh!" he shouted "What did your sister mean when she called me a pervert? What the hell was that about?"

Ryou blushed "I-i honestly dont know!"

The teacher came in. He was a slightly thin man in a black suit with a large nose jet black hair and a rather bored look on his face.

"I see Okazaki and Sunohara are absent once again!" He said in a voice that sounded as though this was a regular thing. He sat down on his chair and placed a couple books on his desk.

"Now class you maybe have noticed we have a new student here today! James Walker please stand up and introduce yourself!" He mummbled

James slowly stood up and started to get nervous with the amount of people in the classroom. He didnt notice but Ryou had given him a thumbs up for good luck.

"W-well there isnt much to say really! My name is James Walker as you just heared. I've moved here from England and thats pretty much it really..."

"He quickly sat down again feeling embarrassed. Most of the students didnt seem that interested anyway.

"Now class..."

Roughly an hour and a half passed James did his best to keep up with everything and awnser questions. It was finally break and everyone walked out of the classroom.

"Where the hell do I go?" James thought

Ryou had gone with some of her friends so he had knowone to talk too. "I guess I'll go outside!" He said to himself as he left the classroom.

The hallways were packed with students talking. He tried his best to get through the crowds "E-excuse me!" he would mutter as he went past.

"Watch it asshole!" a student shouted. James started to get that awful tingeling feeling in his stomach. As he got up to the end of the corridor he noticed two large wooden doors. He looked up at the top a large sign hung on the walls which read "Library.

He carfully pushed the door on the left as to not disturb anyone. He quietly went over to a table in the corner. "So this is the first library!" James said to himself.

It was far bigger than the second library and his classroom combined. A countless number of books shelves stood around the room. 50 pherhaps 80 books filled each long shelf. He looked around and suddenly noticed that there was knowone in the room but him so he began to walk around.

"I should be able to stay here for a bit!" he said as he walked around. He noticed another table and a chair and sat down. He began to open his bag when in the corner of his eye he noticed a girl.

He looked and gasped in suprise. She had been that quite that he hadnt notice her at all. She was reading a thick emrald green book. She slowly turned the page. He noticed here eye's going back and fourth and then turned another page "Wow she's fast!" James thought.

He slowly walked over to the girl "E-excuse me!" he whispered. The girl didnt seem to hear him and she continued reading. James moved away and sat at the table.

"I'm just gonna sit here for a bit! Sorry if I disturb you!" He slowly unpacked his bag and brought out a small plastic bottle of water. He carefully opened up the bottle and began to drink.

Suddenly he coughed out a laod of water that has gone down the wrong way. He coughed and spluttered for several minuets before gasping for breath. Water had gone all over the table and his bag had gotten quite wet.

He quickly brought out his shirt from inside his bag and began to wipe up the mess. He then quietly walked over to the girl. She still sat in her own little world reading her book. She sat on a cushion on the floor barefoot her shoes were placed by the wall. She had purple eyes blue-ish purple hair with red ball hairbands.

James tried to hide the fact that he was blushing "S-she's quite cute!" He thought

James suddenly cleared his throat "S-sorry about all the noise just then!"

But she didnt seem to notice him she merely kept on reading.

"She must really like reading!" James thought

James sat down again and grabbed his water bottle. He was about drink when he hesitated. He didnt want to choke on the water again and make a lot of noise. He glanced at the girl and suddenly had an idea.

"I've been meaning to sketch some people!" he thought as he brought out his sketchbook and pencils. He quickly inspected the sketchbook. Only one corner of it had gotten wet the rest was thankfully bone dry.

He picked up his pencil and slowly began to sketch the girl. It was pretty easy since she stood pretty still. He just hoped she wouldnt notice...

Several minuets past and James felt it was best for him to bet getting back to class. He put back his pencil and was about to close his sketchbook when he noticed the girl had moved.

James gasped in shock. He turned around and noticed she was stood right behing him looking at him like a child would to a stranger.

"Um..."James began to say. He had no way to explain this...

"I-is that suppose to be me?" The girl asked. She spoke in a soft quite voice. She seemed a lot quieter than Ryou.

James blushed "Y-yes.." He choked on his words as he replied "Look I'm sorry I.."

The girl blushed and smiled "It's very good!"

James looked at his sketch. He'd only been able to draw up to her holding a book. He hasnt properly finished the background or anything and he felt the face and proportions looked odd.

"Um thanks" James mumbled "I-its honestly not that good!"

The girl walked over to her bag and brought out a lunchbox. She carfully opened it up but it was too far for James to be able to see its contents.

"Do you want some?" she asked

James grinned and went red "N-no thanks sorry! I have to be getting back to class!"

"See you later.."she mumbled as James walked out the door.

As James walked out of the library he noticed Okazaki walking past him. He thought to say hello but decided against it. He remembered Ryou telling him Okazaki was a slacker and thought talking to him probably wouldnt be the best idea.

He got to class walked over to his seat and sat down "Who was that girl?" James thought as he examined his sketch.

He suddenly noticed Ryou walking up to him. "Hi James!" she exclaimed "S-sorry that I couldnt hang around at during break!"

James smiled "Dont worry its fine!" Ryou looked around the classroom for a few seconds. "H-have you seen Okazaki?"

"Yeah I've just seen him walking to the library!" James replied.

Ryou just gave a deep sigh.

"Oh by the way!" James brought out his sketch and explained to Ryou about the girl in the library.

"Judging by your sketch that was probably Kotomi Ichinose from Class-A! She's a genius!"

"A genius?!" James asked in shock

"Yep! Ryou replied "She reached top 10 on every subject of the national mock exam! She's allowed to cut classes any time and study whatever she wants!

James sighed"Well she's definitely out of our leauge!"

"W-well" Ryou muttered "I hear she's really shy!"

"I guess! She didnt talk much although it might be because she was engrossed in reading a text book or somthing like that!"

"Changing the subject but I think the sketch you did of her was really good! Ryou tried to hide the fact that she was blushing even more than usual.

"T-thanks! " James blushed "But I can honestly do better!

"Um..." Ryou suddenly started shaking "D-do you think w-we could do some drawing together some time?"

Ryou tried to hide her face as she began to cry a little.

"Sure!" James smiled "we'll try and arrange somthing!"

"O-ok!" Ryou said in a shaky voice as she sat back down in her seat.

James then thought about the girl He'd met in the library

"Kotomi Ichinose..."

To be continued

 **Authors Note:**

 **Sorry that this took a while to uplaod!**

 **As well as having to do laods of work I did also get stuck a few times while writing this!**

 **Hopfully when i write the next chapter it wont take as long!**

 **PS: Please correct me on spelling and grammar mistakes since they arent my best subjects...**


	3. Chapter 2: A chaotic afternoon

Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad fanfiction

Chapter 2: A chaotic afternoon.

The second lesson was pretty much the same as the first and after an hour or two it was time for lunch...

Every began walking outside of the classroom as quickly as they could. James waited for most of the students to go first since he didnt want to get in the way of the huge crowd.

Ryou slowly walked over to James "Um James..." She asked quietly "D-do you want to eat lunch with me?" She covered her face as she said this once again trying to hide the fact that she was blushing heavily.

"Well actually I was going to stay in the library for the next hour to be honest!" He replied awkwardly. "It's gonna be too busy in the lunch room so I'll just eat when I get home!"

"Oh.." Ryou replied with disappointment.

"While I'm on my way there!" James began "How about I get that book you were looking at in the second library?"

Ryou suddenly smiled "Oh thank you!" She exclaimed "But you dont have to.."

"No no I insist!" he shouted "Now you just get off to your lunch and hang out with Kyou or whatever and I'll give you the book after lunch!

James left the classroom leaving Ryou on her own "So much for drawing..." she muttered to herself.

It took a few trys for James to find the right corridor for the second library but he eventully found it after several minuets of searching.

He noticed the door was shut so he quietly knocked on it and stepped inside.

No one was inside so he crept over to one of the shelves and began searching for the book. He only remembered it having a purple spine so did his best to try and figure out which one it was. He looked around for several minuets with no luck.

"Damn it! Someone must have taken it earlier..."

The door suddenly opened although James was too busy to notice. "Oh hello!" a soft female voice shouted.

James turned around and looked at a short girl staring blankly in his direction. She had light brown hair a rather tired expression on her face and the same uniform as all students although James noticed the logo on her uniform was red rather than blue.

"Is something wrong?" the girl asked softly

"Um..." James had been so shocked by her sudden appearence that he'd forgotten what he was looking for. Then he suddenly remembered "No sorry I'm just looking for a book on fourtune telling!"

The girl walked over to the shelf that james was busy browsing through "It's this one here!" she brought out the book and handed it to James.

"Thank you!" James smiled "Your not the one who oversee's the room are you?"

The girl just smiled "Why yes I am! I'm Yukine Miyazawa!"

"Oh!" James gasped "So your Yukine! For some reason I imagined you as an older student!"

"huh?" Yukine looked at James confused.

"Never mind!" James laughed "I have to ask though. If this is the 2nd library whats with all the cooking equipment?"

Yukine laughed slightly "Well most of the usused equitment goes into this room books that arent read much and equipment that the school has no use for. I get all kinds of people coming in here asking for advice!"

James gave Yukine a look of suprise. "Do you want something to drink?" She asked as she walked over to the cooking equipment.

James scratched his head "Um...I'll have a coffee I guess! I honestly dont have much to do!"

Yukine then suddenly turned to James and looked as if she was examining him. "Pardon me but I dont think I've seen you here before?"

"Oh I'm James Walker!" He answered "I just started here today!"

"Oh I see!" Yukine replied as she started boiling a kettle. "So have you made many friends so far?"

James laughed "Just the class representative Ryou Fujibiyashi!" It's only been a few hours so naturally I havent spoken to many people!"

"Oh true!" Yukine brought over a small tea-cup and handed it to James.

"Thank you!" James said as he began to sip it. It tasted strong but sweet at the same time. "This is a good cup of coffee!"

Yukine blushed "Thank you! So is fourtune telling an interest of yours?"

"huh?" James muttered as he suddenly remembered the book "Oh no! It's for Ryou! She was going to borrow it this morning but there was no one around!"

Yukine brought out a folder went through several pages and began to fill out a blank page. "Well you can tell her that it's officaly checked out!" Yukine smiled as she wrote.

Suddenly there was a loud rushing sound outside in the corridors "This isnt gonna end well!" They both heared a male student shout.

Yukine and James both gave each other a puzzled look and quickly ran out of the library.

"What's going on?!" James shouted

"A fights about to breakout in the grounds!" they heared a female student shout.

"I'm gonna check this out!" James shouted as he ran down the corridor and Yukine ran straight after him "Wait for me!"

A massive crowd had gathered in the grounds. James and Yukine were unable to see what was going on due to behing right at the back of the crowd.

"Whats going?" Yukine shouted to James as she tried to make herself heared amongst the crowd.

"Do you really think I can see what's going on behind this lot?!" James shouted

James and Yukine tried to figure out just what was going on but all they could hear was the chearing crowd and the sound of motorbikes.

"DONT TAKE ME FOR A FOOL!" They heared a voice shout as the sound of motorbikes increased.

Whatever was happening was over within seconds. The noises abbruptly ceased and everyone was silent in shock.

"W-what just happened?..." James asked to no one in particular.

Everyone went back to class. It was almost the end of lunch break so James went back to the classroom and waited for the lesson to begin.

James sat by his desk watching the students walk around outside the window. He noticed Okazaki talking to Nagisa "Hmm..for someone not good at making friends I think she's doing well!" James chuckled slightly

A few minuets later Okazaki came into the classroom and sat in his desk. "Hey man!" James said quietly "What the hell happened in the grounds?"

Okazaki sighed looking out the window "Some biker gang was beaten by some transfer junior student Tomoyo Sakagami" Okazaki turned his head to James "Didnt you see?"

"No I was right at the back of the crowd" James replied "So what happened to this Tomoyo Sakagami?"

"No idea!" Okazaki replied as he continued to look out of the window again "and I honestly dont care.."

Suddenly a blond haired student came running into the classroom

"Hey Okazaki!" the boy shouted as he accidently tripped on a chair and fell flat on his face.

James did his best not to laugh...

"What is it Sunohara?" Okazaki asked still stearing out of the window.

The boy quickly got up and brushed himself up

"I've had an idea!" He shouted

"What is it?" Okazaki asked still not paying attention

Sunohara suddenly noticed James "Who the hell are you?"

James sighed as he was starting to get tired of having to introduce himself to people "James Walker I'm a transpher student from England and thats pretty much it!"

Sunohara didnt seem to take much notice and slapped his hand on Okazaki's desk.

"I'm going to fight Sakagami!" He shouted with a large grin on his face.

"What?!" Okazaki and James shouted

"There's no way a girl can beat a guy!" he began to explain

"Gee that's a bit sexist.." James mumbled

"I bet she staged the whole thing so I'm gonna fight her!" Sunohara shouted as he started mimicking punches in the air.

"Is he usually like this?" James whispered to Okazaki

"Yep!" Okazaki replied "That's Sunohara for you!"

"I'm gonna fight her now!" Sunohara shouted as he ran out of the classroom.

"Wait what?" Okazaki gasped

"There is no way this is going to end well!" James shouted "Should we go after him?"

Okazaki stood up and began running completly ignoring James.

"W-wait for me!" James shouted as he ran after Okazaki

As James got to the door Ryou walked in completly unaware of what was going on

"Hi Ja-" but before she could finish the sentence he'd gone. "Sorry Ryou I'll talk later!" he shouted as he ran down the corridor

Ryou watched as James ran down the corridor and disappeared in the crowd of students through the corridors.

Tomoyo walked down the corridor on her way to class. She thought of nothing but her plan for the student council elections until the moment Sunohara showed up

"Sakagami!" Sunohara shouted as he stopped in the middle of the corridor pointing at her.

"There's no way a girl can beat a guy!" he shouted as James and Okazaki caught up with him and were able to catch their breath.

"Or" Sunohara continued not noticing either of them "Maybe you didnt off them money but rather your the type of girl who'd offer them a bit of your you know what!"

Tomoyo gave Sunohara an annoyed look

"This isnt going to end well at all! "James whisped to Okazaki

"This looks bad!" whispered a student

"They're delinquants! I think they're Sunohara and Okazaki!" whispered another student

"Who's the guy with the weird hat?" another voice whispered

Okazaki stepped back so that it wouldnt look like he was involved in the situation. James felt like he had lost a bit of confidence as he stepped back and removed his flat cap.

"Well this is your day!" Tomoyo stated "I wasnt going to take on and fight any students at this school but it look's like I'll have to make an exception in your case!"

Sunohara merely laughed and said in a sarcastic tone "Your so cute when you bluff like that! I bet your knee's are shaking!"

Tomoyo looked as if she was becoming really irritated with the young blonde idiot "I want to make this self defence!" She said in a bored voice and suddenly raised her arm "Come at me!"

Sunohara gave another laugh "Dont be so sure of yourself!"

Tomoyo started cracking her knuckles while the students watched in terror.

Suddenly Sunohara burst into action "GIVE IT UP!"

and within seconds Tomyo kicked Sunohara all over multiple times within a matter of seconds.

"At that moment I suddenly remembered.." Okazaki began as James listened "In this town there was once an unbelievably strong girl who was also very beautiful. She went around pounding young guys who bothered ordinary citizens..."

Sunohara suddenly hit the ground and was bloodied and bruised all over

"Thats what I always heared at least!" Okazaki said looking at Sunohara

"I-" he gasped "I wished you'd told me that earlier!"

Tomoyo began to walk back down the corridor "And dont come back again!"

"Damn her!" Sunohara shouted

"Should we take him to the nurses office or somthing?" James asked worriedly

"Nah leave him!" Okazaki waved to James as he began to walk off

"Hey dont leave me!" Sunohara shouted trying to get back up again

"Um.." James began to ask "Do you want any help?"

Sunohara slowly got back to his feet "If you can show me a way to beat that girl then yes!"

James just laughed "Ha ha! Sorry but that's not my sort of thing!"

James suddenly became aware of the time and looked at the clock on the wall.

"Argh we're five minuets late to class!" he shouted

"never mind!" Sunohara began to walk off in the same direction Okazaki had "There's no point to school anyway!"

James suddenly started paniking again. The teacher would most likly scold him for behing late. He'd hated teachers moaning at him since it reminded him of an instant in primary school where he was shouted at by the year 6 teacher. He'd always tried his best to keep the teachers in good spirits after that!

"Where the hell can I go?!" He thought as he began to panic. The second library would surly be closed by now...

"I know!" he said out loud accidently and some students gave him a few weird stares.

He began to walk down the corridor "I'll go to the first library!" at that moment the girl he'd met earlier came into his head

"Kotomi Ichinose wasnt it?" James thought as he walked.

He then began to think about what to do when he went home "I guess I'll paint..."

After a few minuets he found the door to the library and walked in.

Just like before the library was a completly ghost town. In his last school the library was never the most popular place but you would still find a handful of students inside.

He went around the corner and found Kotomi. She was sitting just as she had been earlier. Engrossed in a text book sitting on the floor bare foot.

James brushed up all his confidence to try and talk to her and cleared his thoat "ahem!" he coughed "K-kotomi?"

She remained glued to her book not noticing James at all. He decided to try calling her again "Kotomi!"

She suddenly put her book down as if coming out of a trance and blankly stared at James. "Oh its you!" She said in a quiet voice and smiled

James gave an embaressed laugh "Yeah its me!" So I thought I'd come here for a bit since there's nothing to do! Is that Ok?"

Kotomi merely have him a blank stare "sure"

James sat down next to her and had a look at the cover of the book she was reading although he had no idea what the title of the book actually was!

"So..." Kotomi mummbled "did you come to draw me again?" she blushed

James covered his face with both hands trying not to show the fact that he was blushing from embaressment. "L-look I'm sorry if.."

"No dont worry I liked your drawing of me! It was very good!"

"Thanks" James mummbled

"So do you like to draw?" She asked innocently

"Well" James began "I love art in general! I love to draw and paint and I love to look at art!

Kotomi listened to James with interest "Do you have a favorite artist?" She asked accidenly coming closer to James to the point that there wasnt much personal space.

"Hmm.." James began to scratch his head as he started thinking "Well I would probably have to say Van Gogh!"

Kotomi gasped in shock. She quickly got up off her feet and ran to a bookshelf.

She picked up a thick dark green hardback book from the shelve and browsed through the pages before stopping in the middle of it with in seconds.

She turned the book and pointed to a painting of a man in a straw hat with orange hair and beard.

"Yep that's him!" James quickly awnsered.

Kotomi sat back down next to James and passed the book over to him.

"What other artists do you like?" she asked and James noticed that she was becoming less quiet and perhaps a little more confident with speaking to him.

"Well there's a lot of artists out there that I like so there would be too many to mention!" He laughed "But Picasso is probably my second favorite!"

James couldnt help but notice that Kotomi was really interested in the conversation. Usuaully when he spoke to people about art they would be completly bored after 2 minuets.

"So what about you?" James asked Kotomi "Do you like art at all?"

Kotomi thought about it for a few seconds "W-well I like to look at art somtimes..." She glanced over to the Van Gogh book "But I wouldnt say I have a favorite artist"

"Oh.." James sighed with slight disipointment "Do you like to draw?"

Kotomi nodded "Sometimes!" she smiled "I have a mild interest in art!"

James brought out his sketchpad "Do you mind if I show you some of my sketches?"

Kotomi nodded and moved closer to James.

James went through some of his work such as his sketch of the grounds outside the school and some stuff he'd done before he'd left england.

"Your very talented!" Kotomi exclaimed

James blushed "T-thanks b-but I dont think I'm that good personally but I hope to improve!"

"So have you been at this school long?" Kotomi asked "Before today I dont think I've seen you before!"

James laughed "I just started today!" My mother and I moved here from England!"

Kotomi gasped "I've always wanted to go to england!" She exclaimed "Is it a nice country?"

"Well the area I lived in was pretty rough!" James stopped for a second as painful memories flashed before him "But some area's like feilds and woods are great from an artistic point of view!"

"So how come you moved here?" Kotomi asked innocently

James sighed "Sorry but it's private. I dont want to talk about it sorry"

Kotomi looked at the floor sadly "S-sorry!"

James suddenly noticed that Kotomi looked as if she was about to cry.

"Oh god I'm sorry if I've upset you!" he shouted accidently

Kotomi turned her head in Jameses direction "Oh no it's fine! It's none of my buissness sorry!"

James suddenly looked at the time "Gee it's allmost time for the end of school!"

James packed away his stuff and got up and began to walk.

He quickly turned to Kotomi

"I'll talk to you tommorow I guess!" he waved to her as he left the room. "See you tommorow!" She shouted

As James walked down the corridor a girl suddenly ran up to him although he was too busy thinking to notice.

"Please accept this!" The girl shouted holding a wooden star.

James suddenly came to his sences and slowly grabbed the star. "Um...thanks?" he said in confusion

Because he could see what the girl looked like she quickly ran away. All he could see from the back was that she was very short with brownish green hair. The girl then disapeared into the distance.

James took a closer look at the wooden star "This is...strange!" he thought as he carefully examined it.

He opened up his bag and placed the wooden star with the rest of his belongings and contined his walk.

After several minuets James walked out of the school.

The way down through the cherry blossom tree's was packed with students on their way back to their homes.

"Just get past them and try not to panic!" James thought to himself as he began to walk down the hill.

 **"HEY!"** James heared a familliar female voice shout.

He quickly turned around and there was Kyou running towards him at lightning speed.

Before James could react he was suddenly behing held in the air by Kyou who had her hand around his throat.

All the students watched in terror

"What the heck's going on?" asked one student

"What's he done to upset Fujibayashi?!" another student asked

 **"You werent in class during the second period!"** Kyou shouted her grip becoming ever so tighter and more painful

"Argh!" James choked "I C-cant breath!"

 **"Since my sister's the class representitive the teacher scolded her because you couldnt be bothered to show up!"** She shouted this so loud that her voice echoed in the air.

Ryou suddenly came running and stopped to catch her breath "S-sister!" she gasped clutching her chest "S-stop it!"

Kyou turned her head to Ryou still holding James **"But's it's this idiots fault that you got into trouble!"** She shouted accidently spitting in Ryou's face.

Ryou wiped off the spit and grabbed Kyou's arm that was holding James "It's his first day!" she shouted "It's not his fault!"

Ryou started shaking rapidly in panic "Please put him down!"

Kyou gave what sounded to James like a demonic growl and released him.

He fell straight onto the floor knocking his head hard to the ground and his flat-cap fell off and blew in the wind.

James gasped for breath as he rubbed his now sore throat and coughed up blood.

Ryou quickly caught Jameses flat cap before it blew away.

"See you at home!" Kyou shouted as she stormed off.

James got back to his feet as Ryou passed him his flat cap. They hadnt noticed that the other students where gosiping about what had just occured.

She suddenly started crying "I-i'm so sorry!"

James was still rubbing his throat "It's Ok it wasnt your fault!" James coughed up a slight spit of blood "I'm sorry but your sister is a complete psychopath!"

Ryou thought to tell James about how Kyou thought James was a pervert but thought it was best not to as it would only exacerbate the situation.

"What happened though?" Ryou asked quietly

James explained what had happened with Sunohara and then his chat with Kotomi

"I see" she mummbled "It's best not to get involved with Okazaki and Sunohara. I dont think they are bad people but with someone like you they could cause a lot of problems!"

"Someone like me?" James asked curiously

W-well.." Ryou mummbled "Since your new you dont want to seem like some sort of trouble maker!"

"Oh I see what you mean!" he replied

James and Ryou began walking together down the hill

"You know I think your the only person I know who's ever been able to make conversation with Kotomi!" She exclaimed "She's quite a difficult person to socialise with!"

"Well it took a few tries to actually talk to her but I think she's interesting!" James said as he walked

"So what are you going to do when you get home?" She asked James as she gazed up at the sky

"Well I will probably have to do a bit of shopping later but other than that I'll probably just draw! I'll probably start work on a new painting soon too!"

" So what will you paint?" She asked with interest

James thought about it for a few seconds "No idea really!" he exclaimed "I usually either paint something based on an existing image or come up with an idea in my head!"

They walked without saying anything for a few minuets. James felt as though the first day at the school had gone rather well considering the circumstances and he actully looked forward to returning the next day.

Ryou suddenly stopped at a bus stop "Well I'd better wait for the bus to arrive!" She excamined "Have a safe trip home!" She suddenly blushed feeling completly embaressed that she'd just spoken to James like some young kid.

James just waved as he walked on "Yeah you too!" I hope we can talk again tommorow!"

"Oh one more thing!" Ryou gasped

"What is it?" James asked

"Well.." Ryou blushed "I never got around to telling you your fourtune!"

"Oh!" James shouted "Well you can do it now if you have time!" He laughed

"Yeah I've got about ten minuets!" Ryou replied as she brought he cards out of her pocket and holded the them out to James.

"Ok just pick three cards!" she excamined

James examined the cards and plucked out three cards from the deck.

Ryou put her other cards back into her pockets and gave out her hand. "Show them to me!"

He gave Ryou the cards and she carefully examined them.

"Hmmm..." Ryou mumbled looking slightly concerned

"Well?" James asked with worry

"Well the card's say you'll have a less chaotic day" Ryou mumbled

James laughed loudly "Well I hope so!"

Ryou gave a slight chuckle "Well see you tommorow then!"

"Yea you too!" James waved as he began to walk away from the bus stop.

James walked through the street for several minuets until he came accross the "Furukawa Bakery" again.

He quickly stepped inside

"Welcome!" he heard Akio shout

Akio suddenly noticed James "Oh it's you!" he said a bored voice "So were you able to talk to Nagisa?"

James looked at the ground in shame "S-sorry sir..."

"Akio!" he interupted

"S-sorry Akio" James continued "I-i was too nervous!"

Akio took out a cigarette from his pocket quickly activated a lighter and began to smoke.

"It's fine!" He smoked "No worries!"

James felt a little relived "I did see Nagisa talking to some guy earlier some I think she might have made a friend after all today!"

Akio put out his cigaret on the counter "Come to think of it Nagisa did say she was having a friend over tonight! Thought it was you actually!"

"No sorry!" James mummbled "I will try and talk to her at some point though!"

"Well good luck!" Akio grunted "So are you here to buy anything?"

"Oh sorry!" James exclaimed "I just thought I'd see how things were! I might as well buy a roll while I'm here though!"

"Just avoid Sane's bread!" he shouted pointing at a stack of rather ordinary looking rolls in the corner.

Akio came closer to James and whispered in his ear "She's put rice crackers in them!"

"Jesus Christ!" James exclaimed as he tried to think how someone could think of such a weird combination!

"Argh!" Akio shouted

James turned and Sane listening by the back door crying "S-so you want people to just avoid my bread!" She cried as she ran out of the shop and into the streets.

"Out of the way!" Akio shouted as he grabbed a handful of bread shoved it into his mouth and ran down the street.

"I LUV YOUR BREAD!" He shouted as he ran.

James just stood thinking about what had just happened "There sure are a lot of interesting characters in this town!" he laughed

He had decided not to bother buying bread and headed back out into the streets onto his way home.

He got back to the flat and walked up the long flight of stairs until he finally reached the door to his part of the building.

The door was unlocked and he stepped inside.

"I'm back mum!" he shouted as he got into the front room.

He looked around and his mother was knowhere to be found. He walked over to his mums bedroom and quietly walked over to the door.

He very carfully opened it trying not to make a sound although the was a slight creak as the door was old.

He couldnt seen the room very well. It was dark as his mother had shut the curtains but he could see her fast asleep in the bed.

He slowly closed the door "Sleep well mum!" he whispered.

He locked the door and walked into his bedroom. He placed his bag onto the bed and unpacked all his stuff. He stuck his home clothes into a basket for clothes to put through the washing machine at the end of the week.

He quickly changed into his pyjamas and brought out an unopened pack of four canvases. He opened the pack brought out a canvas and placed it on his side table.

He then brought out a jug filled it with water and dipped a large brush into it before drying it off and dipping it in white acrylic paint.

He coated the canvas with the white paint accidently covering parts of his hands and sleeves in paint.

He finished preparing the canvas after three minuets and dipped the brush pack into the jug and laid on his bed and shut his eyes.

"Should be able to start it properly tommorow..." He mummbled as he drifted off into sleep.

To be continued...

 **Authors note:**

 **I am so sorry for this behing uplaoded so late!**

 **I have had so much work to do around the house that I havent had much time to work on this chapter at all!**

 **I have been having glitches with this site latly. I noticed with the last two chapters certain words had been removed when were posted and even when I tried to copy and paste the original file through the editing thing on this site it still had the same problem! No idea if it's just a glitch that will sort itself out over time or not but I will be providing links to these chapters on my DeviantART too incase there are any problems here with the words random disapearing and messing up the story...**

 **Just follow this link art/Sketching-Tomorrow-a-Clannad-fanfiction-Chapter2-551483990?ga_submit_new=10%253A1438812446**

 **Hopfully the next chapter wont take as long to write!**


	4. Chapter 3: The shortest day

Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction

Chapter 3: The shortest day

It was almost 10:00pm Kyou and Ryou were taking a bath together.

The water felt warm but not too cold and the room was misty with condensation.

"Well" Kyou sighed "You were really something today little sister!"

Ryou looked at her sister in confusion "W-what do you mean?"

Kyou gave a perverted grin "Well you really seem to have taken a shine to the new guy!"

Ryou blushed "No no it's nothing like that!" she exclaimed "I'm just doing my job as the class representative!"

"Well.." Kyou laughed "You seemed a bit over protective of him earlier!"

"Sis you were chocking him!" she shouted "Of course I was protecting him! He was late during the second period and you almost killed him for it!"

Kyou gave another perverted grin "You know I actually got some enjoyment out of that..."

Ryou looked at her sister with concern "sis please dont talk like that! You know it frightens me!"

"Relax I'm just kidding!" She exclaimed "Anyway I thought you wanted to get closer to Tomoya!"

Ryou blushed again "W-well..y-yes I...i really want to go out with him but..."

"Your too shy!" Kyou interupted "You need to learn to be more confident!"

"Yeah..." Ryou mumbled

"I know!" Kyou suddenly shouted accidently splashing Ryou in the face with water "You could use the new guy as a way to get more confident!"

Ryou's face went redder than before "Sis I dont like the sound of that! It would look like I was just using him for attention if I did that..."

Kyou sighed

"Anyway.." Ryou added "I thought you thought James was a pervert..."

"Oh I still think he is!" kyou explained "But if he touches you just tell me and I'll tear his throat out!"

"If my plan works I should be able to find out if he really is a pervert!" Kyou thought to herself.

"Sis.." Ryou suddenly sounded like she was about to cry "Y-your starting to remind me of when we were in primary school..."

Kyou looked at her sister with concern.

"Ryou I promise I'm not like that anymore!" Kyou shouted "I've changed since then its...it's just I can get a little violent at times that's all..."

Ryou wished the conversation topic would change. Normally her sister would make some sort of perverted remark about her breasts becoming slightly bigger which Ryou always found extremly embarrassing but for once she felt like she wanted that mentioned just so painful memories werent brought back...

"I wonder what James is up to right now..." Ryou thought as she looked at the curtain...

Back at the flat James was fast asleep in bed.

He was turning left and right and sweating all over.

He was having a nightmare...

 **James was back in the school. He was running down a long stretch of corridor that seemed endless.**

 **All that could be heared was his heavy panting echoing through the corridor.**

 **James stopped to catch his breath when the floor suddenly opened up like a trap in an old egyptian pyramid**

 **James screamed as he fell down for what seemed like endless miles in the pitch black dark.**

 **Suddenly he was tied to an operating table. There in front of him was Kyou in a surgons uniform.**

 **A group of people stood behind her hidden away in the shadows but James could tell from their laugh's that they were his old bullies from his last school.**

 **One of them passed Kyou a chainsaw.**

 **"Time to begin the operation!" Kyou shouted as she activated the chainsaw with it's horrible sound echoing through the endless darkness.**

 **James tried to scream but couldnt as they had stitched his mouth together!**

 **Kyou held the chainsaw high in the air and then...**

 **SLASH!**

"Argh!" James screamed.

He was breathing heavily and his heart was racing as he looked around the room.

He put his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes "J-just a dream!" he gasped.

He turned himself over to try and fall back asleep when he noticed he suddenly felt damp in his lower area.

He slowly crept out of bed and turned on the lights. He removed his cover from the bed and in the middle of the sheets was a wet patch

"Oh crap I've wet the bed!" James said to himself.

He looked at his pyjama bottoms and they were wet in the crouch area.

He turned checked his clock for the time.

"Oh god its only 5:00am!" James moaned "I'll never get back to sleep now!"

He removed his bedsheets and put them in the wash basket in the corner of the room.

He then removed his pyjama bottoms and underpants and wrapped a towel around himself.

He then got fresh underpants and a flannel from his draws and left the bedroom quietly shutting the door behind him.

He slowly crept to the bathroom and started preparing a bath he made sure the water didnt run too fast in order not to make too much noise the water slowly turned warm and James added some green bubble bath into it.

After a few minuets he stepped into the bath tub and began to relax.

"I havent done that in a months!" James thought to himself feeling completly embarrassed.

Sometimes during uncomfortable events he had wet the bed. Usually after staying at his dads who had always been like a ticking time bomb because anything could set the old man off.

James coughed slightly his throat was still sore from behing strangled by Kyou and his nose was starting to feel stuffed up.

"Oh dont tell me I'm feeling ill!" he thought as his left eye began to hurt too..

After about 20 minuets he returned to the bedroom brought out some new sheets and remade the bed.

"There's no way I'm going to be able to sleep again!" James said outloud as he finished remaking the bed.

He looked at the canvas that he's prepared just hours before he put his hand onto it and felt it.

The texture felt dry but slippery at the same time.

"Just about done!" James thought as he walked over to his bag and searched for his sketchbook.

He then remembered the wooden star that the strange girl had given him he brought it out of his bag and examined it

"I suppose I could customise it..." James thought as he looked at it.

He placed the star by his windowcile and browsed through his sketchbook.

He found the drawing he'd done of the school grounds earlier and set up his easel and placed the canvas's onto it and began to draw on the slippery surface.

It was difficult to get the drawing on the canvas to look the way it did in the sketchbook but he somehow managed it with great difficulty.

He couldnt remember much about the colours of the area apart from the green from the tree's and the grass.

He carefully opened up a tube of green paint dipped his brush into it and began to colour the canvas.

The entire process took at least 3 hours. There was still work to do as some parts needed to be touched up but James thought the painting so far had been done well.

"Shame I couldnt bring all my paintings with me!" he thought "Ryou and Kotomi would probably be amazed!"

Jameses hands were covered in paint. He crept over to the bathroom and thoroughly washed his hands until they were almost spotless.

James began to clean his painting equitment and then looked at the time "8:00!" James gasped "I have to get to the school!"

He ran to the bathroom and brushed his teeth he didnt have time for breakfast and thought he wouldnt even have the time to grab a quick roll from the bakery.

He looked into the mirror and his left eye was red and so was his nose.

He blew his nose with a tissue and drank some water from the tap.

His throat still hurt and it was becoming painful to speak.

He quickly changed into his uniform and wrote a note for his mum.

 _"Dear mum._

 _I have left for school so I'm leaving this note for you_

 _in case you wonder where I am_

 _Love from James xxx_

He ran to the school luckily he remembered the way from yesturday.

He was out of breath and stopped by the gates.

One again the grounds where packed with students making their way into the over crowded building.

"Hey!" James heared a familliar voice shout.

He looked and there was Kyou running towards him looking a lot happier that the last time he'd seen her.

James started to walk up towards the hill as he didnt want to talk to Kyou after their last encounter but before he could take one step further she had already caught up to him and put her arm around his side.

"So how are you today James?" Kyou grinned

James felt afraid and uncomfortable "P-please let go of me!" he mumbled as he tried to get free.

"Aww relax James!" Kyou forced herself another grin.

Sister!" Ryou suddenly ran towards both of them.

James was at least glad to see Ryou "Hey Ryou can you please tell your sister to let go of me!"James grunted as Kyou's grip became harder.

Ryou looked at both of them with worry "S-sister please let him go!"

Kyou released James and patted him on the back "What's with you?" she laughed "I'm just trying to make friendly conversation!"

"Well considering you almost killed me yesterday!" James shouted as he hid behind Ryou.

"Look I'm sorry I was just frustrated Ok!" Kyou explained

"But that dosent give you the right to hurt people!" Ryou mumbled

James coughed and made a weezing sound.

"James" Ryou mumbled "You dont look too well!"

"Well" James rubbed his throat slightly "I woke up at 5 in the morning so I've barly had any sleep my nose is blocked up and my sinuses are hurting and to top all that off I've got a sore throat from almost behing choked to death!"

Kyou brought out a bottle of water from her pocket "Here's some water!" she passed him the bottle "It's not been opened.

James took the bottle and placed it in his pocket "Thanks!" he mumbled

Ryou looked at James with worry "Maybe you should see the nurse?" she said shyly

"Maybe!" James replied "If I'm still not feeling good at lunch I'll probably go!"

Kyou suddenly grinned "Here's an idea!" she exclaimed "How about you eat lunch with us?"

James began to think about the idea.

Ryou blushed "Y-you dont have to if you dont want to..."

"Well I'm not even sure I'll still even be here at lunch so what about during first break?"

"Sure thing!" kyou shouted "I'll even buy you something to eat!"

James looked at Kyou oddly "No you dont have to.."

"No I insist!" Kyou interupted

"Well anyway I'll think about it!" James said as he began to walk up the hill.

"Ryou" James turned his head to her "See you in class!" he then continued his long walk.

"Yeah see you!" she waved and looked at James worridly.

Kyou laughed "Hook line and sinker!"

Ryou gave her sister an annoyed look "Sis I told you last night that I wont use him like that!"

"And I told you that it's the only way for you to get more confident!" She whispered to Ryou

Ryou suddenly started tearing up "It's times like this when you sound like a complete bully!" she shouted as she ran off crying.

Kyou suddenly stopped in her tracks completly shocked at what her sister had just said "Maybe she's right..." Kyou thought as she gazed up at the sky.

James sat at his desk nodding off and then waking up every few minuets "I must stay awake!" he thought as he tried desperately too keep his eye's open.

Ryou came into the classroom and glanced over at James "This whole situation is messed up!" she thought as she walked over to him and patted him on the head.

"huh?" James came to his sences as he had almost nodded off again. "Oh hey Ryou!"

Ryou smiled "Hey James!" her expression then turned to concern "Look if you dont want to join us at lunch or whatever it's fine..."

"Well" James hesitated for a moment "I dont mind spending time with you but I'm not comfortable around your sister!"

He tried his best not to sound rude with that remark "I mean one day she tries to kill me the next she wants to hang out!"

"My sisters... complicated..." Ryou mumbled "If you want to go over to the first library and we can hang out there! It's probably the one place Kyou wouldnt think to look for me!"

"Sure we can do that! James exclaimed "I guess Kotomi could hang out with us there too!"

"So are me and Kotomi your only friends? Ryou asked with concern.

"Well.." James thought about that for a few seconds "I am not really sure if Kotomi is a friend since we've barly spoke but you are my friend yes!"

Ryou blushed "T-thanks! That really means a lot!"

James coughed hard and blew his nose.

Ryou felt his forehead "I think your burning up!" she gasped.

"Suddenly your a doctor eh?" James chuckled.

"Well actually I hope to attend nursing school once I graduate!" She exclaimed feeling slightly proud.

James was very suprised "Well I hope you can succeed!"

Ryou chuckled "And I hope you can make your dream of becoming an artist a reality!" she smiled

"Oh!" James coughted slightly "If we can hang out in the library I'll show you some drawings!"

Ryou blushed slightly "I...i actually did some drawings last night...can I show you them later?"

James smiled "Sure! I look forward to it!"

Ryou walked back to her seat and covered her face "Oh now he's going to see what a terrible drawer I am!"

The next thing James knew he was already drifting back to sleep...

" **James Walker!"**

"W-what?!" James jumped up out of his seat and looked around.

The classroom was now full and it appeared class was in session the students were laughing under their breath and the teacher was looking angrily at James.

"How dare you fall asleep in my lesson?!" he shouted

James started shaking "I-i'm sorry sir! I di.."

"Your problems dont interest me!" he shouted "Yesturday you didnt show up for the second period and today you fall asleep during the first!

He whacked his ruler on the black board "I'll let you off since your new as I know you need to get use to how this school works!"

"However if your going to be a slacker like Okazaki and Sunohara then leave now!" the teachers voice echoed through the room.

"I-i'm sorry sir..." James sat down and tried to keep himself from crying.

Ryou looked at James with sadness "I'm so sorry James!" Ryou didnt know why she was apologizing since it wasnt her fault...

After that the class continued as normal.

The teacher did not call for James to answer any questions and sat in his chair trying not to get too upset.

Eventually the bell rang and everyone left as James walked out Ryou ran over to him.

"Are you Ok?" she asked with a look of concern.

"Y-yeah!" James was still trying to hold back tears and his sore throat didnt help matters much.

He'd begun to feel even worse.

"Let's get to the library before Kyou shows up!" Ryou pushed James hurridly as she looked around the corridor.

As James took one more step through the corridor he suddenly felt dizzy and almost fell to the floor.

"James!" Ryou shouted as she caught James.

James felt dizzy and everything seemed to blur slightly. Ryou kept holding him as he almost fell to the side wall.

All the students stared and wondered what was going on.

Ryou looked at James worridly.

"Ok I think you should stay at home for a while!"

"Yeah!" James groaned as he began to regain his balance and Ryou let go of him.

James began to walk up the corridor "Ryou let Kotomi and the teachers know where I've gone!" he rubbed his head as he felt a headache coming on.

Ryou looked at James in shock and she ran after him "Your not going home alone!" she exclaimed "W-what if you collapse on a road or something?!"

"Fine!" James groaned as he walked out of the school with Ryou by his side.

They walked out of the school with little fuss and eventully found themselves near the flat.

"ugh.." James groaned "I dont think I'll be in for the rest of the week!"

"Oh" Ryou sighed with disappointment

"Dont take this the wrong way.." James began as Ryou stared at him

"But why do you hang out with me?"

Ryou quickly tried to hide the fact that she was blushing "W-well.." she mumbled

"I think your interesting. Your shy like me and I think underneath that lies a great person who is capable of many great things!"

Jameses face went completly red and Ryou smiled.

James suddenly hugged Ryou "T-thank you!" he teared up slightly from happiness.

Ryou blushed "No problem!" she smiled "I'm glad to be your friend!"

James let go of Ryou and continued their walk together.

"Um.." Ryou stuttered "Can I tell you something?"

James smiled "Sure!"

"W-well.." she stuttered again "Promise you wont tell anyone?" she raised her voice slightly and sounded pretty serious.

"Of course!"

"Well apart from Kyou your the only one that knows this but..."she struggled to breath for a few seconds due to how nervous she was "I...have a crush on Okazaki!"

she stopped and tried to hide her blushing cheeks.

"I...w-want t-to "she breathed in and out for a few seconds "Go out with him b-but I'm just to shy to tell him how I feel!"

"Oh not again!" James mumbled to himself

Ryou looked at him with confusion "W-what do you mean?"

James jumped slightly as he hadnt realised that Kyou had heared him.

"W-well!" he stuttered "Something like this happened in my last school with a girl I liked..."

Ryou gasped in shock and blushed heavily.

James suddenly realised what he'd just said "N-not that I like y-you in that way!" he panicked.

Ryou could see James was panicking so tried to change the conversation "W-what happened with the girl you liked?" she asked

Jameses mind flashed with painful memories suddenly coming back to him "I...i dont want to talk about it sorry! It's too painful for me!" he suddenly started shaking and tried to hold back tears.

"I'm so sorry!" Ryou shouted "B-but if you ever want to tell me about it someday you can you know..."

"Maybe.." James mumbled "and if you want advice for asking out Okazaki just come to me!"

He smiled and Ryou blushed.

They continued the walk back to the flat without another word until they reached the tall building.

"Well here's the flat!" he grinned "You'd better get back to the school in case they wonder where you've gone!"

Ryou gasped as she checked her watch for the time "Oh god I'd better get back!" she very quickly brought out a notebook quickly wrote something down ripped out the paper and passed it to James.

"Here's my number!" she blushed "If your feeling well on Saturday we could arrange to meet up or something!" She turned away and ran just as her blushing increased.

"S-sure!" James stuttered as he placed the note in his bag.

"Get well soon!" Ryou shouted as she ran back towards the school.

James got up to his area of the flat within a few minuets. He knocked on the door and entered "Mum I'm home!"

He looked around and the room was empty with no life. He glanced at the table and noticed a note which wasnt in his hand writing.

He grasped the note and read it outloud.

Dear James:

I got your note. If I am not here

when you return then I will have gone

out for a bit.

There's some food in the freezer that you can cook

and the phone should be connected properly incase you need to use it.

Love mum xxx

James walked over to the phone and held it to his ear.

It made the usual boring drowned out sound so it was definitely working properly!

Jmaes got some paper towels from the kitchen and headed back into his room. He threw his bag onto the floor and layed on his bed still in his uniform.

He then got himself up again and put his hand in his bag and brought out the note that Ryou had given him.

0987634155165

The words "Here's my mobile number!" had been hurridly written underneath.

James didnt have a working mobile phone anymore. His old one's contract had been terminated just before he'd left England. The only thing it was good for was listening to some song's that he'd downlaoded.

"I'll have to get a new phone!" James thought to himself as he placed the number in his drawer next to his old phone.

He glanced over at the painting he'd started early in the morning and then lay back in the bed. "I'll finish it when I'm better!" he groaned.

He lay in bed staring at the ceiling and began to think of many things...

Ryou had run from James flat all the way back to the school and was completly out of breath by the time she'd gotten to the schools gates.

She was breathing heavily and felt a burning pain in her chest "I.."she wheezed "I think I could run a marathon!"

After about a minuet she checked her watch. "10 minuets to spare!"

She walked through the gates and back into the school many students walked around not even noticing her as if she'd never been away at all.

She walked into the lunchroom which was almost empty due to break time almost behing over with only a handful of students spread out on different tables.

She turned her head to the left side of the room and Kyou wasnt in her usual spot "How will I explain this.." Ryou mumbled she quickled turned around and there was Kyou looking rather angrily at her.

"And where have you been?!" Kyou shouted as her voice echoed through the room and the few students that remained looked to see what was happening.

Kyou turned her head to the peeping students "Get lost! This isnt a show!" she shouted as a couple students ran out of the lunchroom in terror.

"S-sis..." Kyou mumbled and started shaking "P-please calm down!"

Kyou grabbed Ryou's shouted and her nails dug into them "I've been looking for you everwhere!"

"S-sis your hurting me!" Kyou suddenly noticed her nails digging into Ryou's shoulders and let go.

She sighed and walked over to an empty table "Sit down!" she commanded as she pulled out the chair next to her.

Ryou slowly sat down "W-well.." Ryou stuttered "James was.."

Kyou suddenly stood up and started to walk out the room "He was about to touch you wasnt he?!" she shouted as she reached the door "I'll make him wish he was never born!"

Ryou ran to her sister grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back "It's nothing like that!" she gasped "Just let me explain!"

Ryou looked at her sister with annoyance and sat back down in her chair. "Well?" she asked

"W-well.." she stuttered again "James was getting worse with his cold and almost collapsed so I helped him get home!"

Kyou looked at her sister with interest "So you've seen where he lives?" she grinned

"Well I saw the outside of his flat. He walked back to his area of the building and I ran back here!"

Kyou's facial expression turned from a grin to an annoyed look "That's all?"

"Well I told him about.." Ryou quickly looked around the room to make sure no one was listening "I told him about my crush on Okazaki!" she whispered

Kyou gasped with shock!

"And I gave him my number in case he wants to hang out!" Ryou blushed at this last remark.

"How did he react when you told him about Okazaki?" she whispered

"He said he wont tell and that if I want I can ask him for advice!" she whispered.

Kyou chuckled "Yeah as if someone like him would know anyone about that sort of thing!"

Ryou suddenly remembered what James has mentioned about his last school "Well he told me there was a girl he liked in his last school...but I'm guessing it didnt end well..."

Kyou gave another look of interest "Did he say why?"

Jameses words kept repeating over and over inside her head "He told me it was too painful to go into details..."

Kyou laughed

"Sis just stop it!"

Kyou laughed louder "Oh trust me I really want to know what happened with him and this girl! It was probably so pathetic! hahaha!"

Ryou suddenly stood up "It's none of our business!" she shouted and began to cry "And even if he tells me I'm not going to tell you!" Ryou ran out of the room.

Ryou saw that the first library was near and stepped inside.

She sat down in a chair put her head in her arms and cried.

She cried for several minuets. She had no idea how long but she cried her eye's out to the point that it was like a flowing river.

She suddenly felt a hand grasp her shoulder

"Are you ok?" a soft voice asked.

Ryou wiped her eye's and turned her head to see who was behind her.

"Oh!" Ryou sobbed "K-kotomi it's you!"

Kotomi looked at Ryou in confusion

Ryou chuckled "You probably dont remember me I'm Ryou Fujibyashi I tried to talk to you once before but couldnt get a reply!"

Kotomi just stared at Ryou like a child observing a stranger "Why are you upset?"

Ryou wiped her eyes and blew her nose "Oh it's just my sister! S-sorry" she choked on her words slightly "I dont want to go into details"

Kotomi's facial expression suddenly turned from curious into fearful "Is she a bully?" she muttered and started shaking slightly.

Ryou gazed up at the ceiling "I...I honest dont know!"

Ryou suddenly remembered her message to give Kotomi.

"Oh!" she gasped "Just letting you know James wasnt able to join you today because he fell ill and was sent home he told me to inform you!"

Kotomi looked very confused "James who?"

"James Walker" Ryou replied

Kotomi looked even more confused so Ryou decided to describe him "um...brown hair sideburns wears a flat cap!"

Kotomi suddenly jumped "Oh do you mean the guy who likes art?!"

"yes!" Ryou replied with worry "S-so you didnt even know his name?"

Kotomi looked at Ryou with a childlike expression "No...but he knew my name.."

Ryou laughed "Ah that's probably because I told him it!"

Kotomi smiled "I really like James! He's very kind!"

Ryou blushed "yeah he sure if something!"

Ryou stood up and looked at the clock "I'd better get back to class!"

"Do you know when James will be back?" Kotomi muttered

"No sorry.." Ryou replied "I'll come here during break for the next few days and let you know if he is or isnt!"

Kotomi smiled and bowed her head "Thank you!"

Ryou left the library and walked back to class "Kotomi sure seems like a lonely person..."

Kotomi went back to her usual corner and went back to reading a large book.

 **To be continued...**

 **Authors Note:**

 **Correct me if I am wrong but I think this is the shortest chapter so far!**

 **I felt the story was going a bit slow and wanted to speed things up a little without making everything seem rushed!**

 **As always I am sorry for any spelling and grammar mistakes...**


	5. Chapter 4: Back to school

Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction

Chapter 4: Back to school.

James remained ill for most of the week. He didn't feel up to coming back to school until Saturday.

He stayed in bed for the use of the toilet and shower.

He hadn't even been up to painting because he'd felt terrible, but at last he was feeling up to it again! Sure, he didn't like that he had to attend school on Saturdays, but he was very much looking forward to seeing Ryou and Kotomi again!

"I'll need to get a new phone soon!" James thought to himself as he glanced at Ryou's mobile number, James's mother opened the door and saw him out "Have a good day!" she smiled.

James's mother had been in good health, however he could tell that she was ill in some way. No matter how he puzzled over it, though, he simply couldn't figure it out.

"Please be ok, mum!" James thought to himself as he walked down the long stairway throughout the flat.

After a few minutes, he was out of the building properly and began to walk down to the school.

He passed the Furukawa bakery and checked his watch "I've got time, I'll quickly grab something!"

When he walked inside the shop, he found that nobody was inside. James looked around in confusion "Well the doors are open so I know they aren't closed... Perhaps Akio and his wife are doing something in the back," James thought to himself as he browsed through the various rolls.

After about a minute, he grabbed a small roll and left some money on the counter. Just as he was leaving, Akio entered from the back.

"Oh, its you," Akio mumbled as he collected the coins James had left on the counter "You've over-paid me by one yen, by the way!"

"Keep the change!" James waved and then turned back to Akio "How's your daughter?"

"She won't back at school until next week!" He looked down at the floor sadly.

"Oh!" James gasped "Is she ill?"

Akio sighed "Nagisa has a very weak body..." He took out a cigarette, clicked his lighter and began to smoke, "been like that since she was a kid! From the sounds of it, some idiot at her school made her wait in the rain yesterday for a basketball game or something!"

James gasped in shock and covered his mouth "Oh my god!" he murmured, shocked "Who the hell was it?"

"Some guy named Okazaki.." He took out his cigarette and stubbed it out "Do you know him?"

"Yeah, he's in the same class as me!" James clenched his fists in anger "That guy… That guy is such an asshole!" he shouted, letting the swear slip accidently in his outrage.

"I half agree" Akio mumbled "Even though he stood Nagisa, up he took her home. However, he could have just left her in the rain..."

Akio started to walk to the back door "She's got a high fever now. Anyway I'd better help Sanae with looking after her..."

"I hope she gets well soon!" James called after him.

Akio suddenly walked back into the room "I have to ask..." he sighed "Is your mum ill?"

"Huh?" James gave Akio a worried and confused look.

"Your mum came into the shop yesterday. She mentioned how you were ill..." he paused for a moment "I thought maybe she'd caught a bug off you, but then I remembered when you first came to our store. She didn't look well then, either..."

James looked at Akio worriedly "Well..." he paused for a moment "I have a feeling that something is wrong, but I just don't know what!" He raised his voice slightly louder than he had intended "Everytime I bring it up she'll just change the subject..."

"I see..." Akio sighed "If anything happens, let me know! Sanae and I would be glad to help out if we can!"

"Thank you!" with that James walked out of the shop and went back on his way to school.

He walked along a long path that lead straight to the school. As he was coming to school a bit earlier than usual, there were less students around... In fact, James was the only one walking along the path!

James began to panic "It is school today right?!" James thought to himself frantically "What if I've got the days wrong?!"

He stopped for a moment, covering his face with his hands, and beginning to breathe heavily "Oh god, I'm gonna look like such an idiot!" he shouted to himself.

James was so panicky that he didn't notice the sound of an oncoming motorbike!

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" A female voice screamed over the loud roar of the motorbike's engine.

"Huh?" James came back to reality and suddenly noticed the motorbike. "Argh!" James jumped to the side of the street as the motorbike passed just inches from hitting him!

James landed on the floor with a loud thump.

"Argh!" James grunted as he felt a lot of pain in his right shoulder.

The motorbike screeched to a halt. James couldn't see who the driver was, but they started running over to him.

"Shit are you alright?!"

James immediately recognized the voice. It was Kyou.

Kyou ran to James, not realising it was him.

"Oh, it's you!" she shouted as James got back onto his feet, wincing

James glanced at Kyou as he rubbed his shoulder "Back after three days and you're already trying to kill me again!"

Kyou tried her best not to laugh and instead settled for a low chuckle under her breath.

James started to continue his walk, still grasping his shoulder.

He grunted in pain as he took the first few steps.

Kyou looked at James with concern "Are you okay?"

"No!" He groaned "I think I might have hurt my shoulder badly!"

"If you want..." Kyou hesitated for a moment as she realised what she was about to offer "I can take you about halfway to the school!"

James looked at Kyou's motorbike for a moment. It looked like he could probably fit at the back.

"Sure," He groaned still clutching his shoulder. "But... How come Ryou isn't with you?"

"She takes the bus to school," Kyou replied as she got back onto her bike "I normally do, too, but I just got my license for this thing. So I can ride to school, now!"

"Well... Maybe she could ride with you?" James said as he slowly got onto the back of the bike.

"I guess..." Kyou thought about the last time James had been in the school and what Ryou had said to her...

 **"It's times like this when you sound like a complete bully!"**

"Kyou!" James shouted "Kyou!"

"H-huh? W-what?" Kyou suddenly came back to her senses. "S-sorry!" she chuckled "spaced out there for a moment!"

James chuckled "Shall we get going?"

"Oh yeah!" As the motorbike started to make a humming noise, she glanced at James behind her.

"You'd better hold on to me!" Kyou blushed as she said this. She felt uneasy about being touched by a guy.

"But don't you dare do anything creepy!" she shouted, still not looking at him.

James felt extremely embarrassed "I... wasn't even thinking of doing any such things..." he mumbled.

Kyou sighed in annoyance "Good. I'll hold you to that. Just hold on, already!"

James carefully grabbed Kyou's waist. Kyou's blushing increased rapidly, her heart was beginning to beat fast. She could swear she felt a tight sensation in her throat.

She was glad James couldn't see her facial expression...

"Why did I suggest to drive him to school?!" She thought as she began to drive along the road.

They didn't speak again until they reached another road. Kyou stopped the motorbike and James stepped off.

"Thanks!" James waved.

Kyou sighed "No problem! Just be careful, okay?"

Kyou suddenly realised what she had said.

"W-why did I say that?!" she muttered to herself

"Huh?" James asked in confusion.

"Nothing!" Kyou shouted "And don't you dare tell anyone about my bike!" she pointed her finger at James "We're not even meant to ride these things to school, so if you tell, I will kill you!"

James took a few steps back in fear "O-okay!" he gulped.

And with that, Kyou drove off into the distance, kicking up a trail of dust behind her.

James glanced at the way to school "Well..." he sighed "Only a few more minutes and I'll be back in school."

He glanced at his watch "Still an hour 'til school actually starts..."

Kotomi suddenly came to mind. "I wonder..." he thought.

He reached the school after a few minutes.

A few students were sat around the trees relaxing, but the school felt pretty much like a ghost town!

James stretched out his arm for a few seconds, still feeling a pain in his shoulder. Evidently the fall had done more damage than he'd suspected.

"Damn!" he groaned "I'll have to see the nurse!"

He stepped into the school and the corridors were empty and completely silent. A door suddenly opened and James's teacher stepped out.

"Oh James Walker!" he gasped in surprised "Glad to know you're back! You have much work to catch up on!"

"Dont worry sir!" he tried not to grin "I'll make sure that I catch up!"

"Well, I will give you your homework at the end of the day! I hope you can get it done!"

Just as the teacher was about to walk off, he turned to James again "I looked at your record from your last school and I was very impressed! You're a hard working student and I am sorry to say that I misjudged you!"

"I-it's fine sir!" he mumbled.

James and the teacher went their separate ways.

"God help me if I have to spend tomorrow working all day!" he thought to himself. His last school rarely had homework, so he wasn't used to it, but he would always try to get it done on time...

James walked up to the first library and saw that the door was open.

He slowly crept inside...

He went over to the usual spot, and there was Kotomi engrossed in a text book as always.

James chuckled "Still the same as ever!"

He crouched down onto the floor next to Kotomi.

"Hey Kotomi!" he shouted.

She didn't respond and kept reading the textbook.

"Kotomi!" he shouted again, but still no reply.

"KOTOMI!" He shouted.

Kotomi suddenly gasped in shock, dropped her book, stood up, ran and hid behind a bookshelf with her head just slightly poking out from the side. She peeked out from behind the wooden frame, her eyes gazing worriedly like a frightened puppy.

"Kotomi, it's me!" he lowered his voice slightly "James Walker!"

Kotomi slowly moved from the bookshelf and back into full view.

She bowed her head "Sorry!" she said in a quiet voice "I didn't notice you. You scared me!"

James felt like an idiot "I'm really sorry Kotomi!"

"Are..." she stopped for a minute "are you a bully?"

"No!" James accidentally shouted "I'm not a bully at all!"

She looked at James fearfully.

"I only shouted because you didn't seem to hear me and that was wrong of me, sorry!" James apologized again.

"Call me Kotomi-Chan" she muttered.

"Kotomi-Chan?" James asked and Kotomi nodded.

"Any reason?" he asked.

"I'll know when you're wanting to talk to me!" she chuckled.

"Um… Okay," James replied.

"Kotomi-chan, what do you do on the weekends?" he asked.

Kotomi giggled "I just meant call me Kotomi-Chan when you're trying to start a conversation!"

"Oh!" James laughed in embarrassment.

Kotomi thought for a few moments.

"I...Well, I go to bookstores... And I stay at home..."

"Well," James interrupted since he noticed Kotomi was having trouble thinking "I might be meeting up with a classmate and her sister tomorrow! Do you want to join us? If you can, of course."

Kotomi thought for a few moments "Are they bullies?"

James was suprised "No!"

"Well..." He suddenly paused, receiving a confused stare from Kotomi. "Ryou is quite gentle and kind but… Her sister I'm not sure..."

Kotomi gasped "Do you mean Ryou Fujibayashi?"

"Yes!" James was surprised "Do you know her?"

"We've only spoken a few times, but I think she is very kind!"

"So how about it?" He asked "If we can meet up tomorrow, do you want to join us?"

"Maybe..." she replied still looking worried.

James checked his watch; he had twenty five minutes until the lesson started.

"I've got to go!" He began to walk out "I don't wanna be late for class!"

"See you later..." Kotomi mumbled.

She slowly crouched down to the floor and picked up her book that lay on the floor. She brushed off the dust from its cover and flattened out the now slightly crumpled pages.

She quickly browsed through the page brought out a pair of scissors. Without a second glance to her surroundings, she began to cut the page.

 **To be continued...**

 **Authors Note:**

 **I am so sorry for this chapter being uploaded so late!**

 **I have been really busy and with college starting up again next week there will be even less time to write chapters!**

 **Also thanks to my friend Rose for helping me with spelling and grammar mistakes!**


	6. Chapter 5: Tension Twins

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 5: Tension Twins.**

Kyou waited below the hill by the cherry blossom trees.

She'd hidden her bike away so that it couldn't be found, or worse, stolen. She'd been waiting for her sister to arrive for about 10 minutes.

The twins had become distant over the past few days. Ryou didn't believe that James was a pervert, and Kyou had overstepped the mark with trying to find out whether he was or not. Kyou's plan to get Ryou more confident with guys by using James had, ultimately, been a failure. She realised that she had potentially put her own sister in danger. She knew that the next most logical step was for their friendship to be terminated.

But, despite her resolve, she kept thinking about why she had driven James to school "I hate him... don't I?"

She didn't want to admit it, but she had had second thoughts about James after Ryou had defended him. "Maybe he isn't so bad after all..."

The whole situation made her uncomfortable. She'd acted like such a jerk to both him and her own sister. She wished she could take it all back…

Briefly, she paused her thought to glance around for her sister. She hadn't arrived yet. Leaning against the bark of the tree, she breathed out slowly and tried to organise her thoughts.

She thought about when she first met James and remembered how he never made eye contact with either her or her sister "No!" she thought, a slight frown tugging at her lips "He was definitely staring at our breasts!" she suddenly felt uncomfortable and felt a tight feeling in her stomach.

"He...He could..." Kyou gulped and her chest began to hurt as the afterthought surfaced "He could have touched my breasts while he was on my bike..." her face went completely red.

"Hey sis..." Ryou mumbled as she walked past her nervous wreck of a sister.

Kyou suddenly came back to her senses, lurching from her rest against the trunk of the tree, grabbing Ryou's arm and pulling her aside.

"Sis!" Ryou shouted "Wha-"

Before she could say anything further,Kyou put her hand over her mouth.

"Just shut up and listen to me, little sister!" she whispered urgently as Ryou tried to get free.

"I drove James to school today," she whispered, pausing for a moment as she looked around to ensure no one was listening in. "I only drove him halfway," she paused for a second.

"Should I really lie to her?" Kyou thought. After all, she had offered to drive James there of her own accord… But could she really risk her sister's safety? What if James really would pull a move like that? She couldn't let that happen, no way.

With her resolve made, she opened her mouth to speak again. She'd lie if she had to make sure her sister was safe.

"He tried to grope me on the way here!" She blurted before finally removing her hand from Ryou's mouth.

Ryou gasped for breath for a few seconds before giving her sister an irritated glance "I...I don't believe you!" she whispered.

"Listen to me," Kyou tried not to raise her voice despite the fact it was already wavering "I know what's best for you, so stay away from him!"

"I have told you time and time again!" Ryou raised her voice slightly "James is just nervous! He's clearly shy around girls, Kyou, that's why he doesn't look us in the eye!"

"And who told you that, huh? He did, didn't he?" Kyou hissed.

"No, he didnt!" Ryou was becoming even more irritated, "I gave it some thought, okay? It's obvious that he's not going to do anything strange. I should know, because James and I are very similar people!"

Kyou snorted at that last remark "Come on, you've got to be joking!"

"If you just got to know him better instead of making assumptions, you would understand him more!"

Ryou had had enough of her sister and her petulance. She took her leave with a huff, stomping away from Kyou "Just stay away from me" she shouted, hiding the tears that had surfaced, "Until you start acting like the big sister that I know, I want nothing to do with you!"

Kyou just stood by the tree, gobsmacked at what had just happened. Without much thought, she slowly allowed herself to crouch down, leaning forward until she could place her head against the tree she had been previously leaning against.

"Why am I like this?" Kyou questioned herself as she punched the tree in frustration, scraping her hand in the process. "I'm such an idiot..."

Later, Ryou sat in the reference room. After some time to calm down, she had told Yukine about the whole situation.

"I see..." Yukine murmured in response to the events that had been relayed to her, pouring some coffee into a small tea-cup. She passed it to Ryou, whose eyes were now red from the amount of crying she'd done.

"W-what do you think I should do?" she choked slightly. Her throat felt dry from all the crying. After taking a moment to let it cool, she carefully sipped at the coffee.

Yukine sat back down in her chair, taking a moment to look at Ryou levelly before answering "Well, I've only spoken to James once, so I don't know him that well. But I think I'm safe in saying for certain that he's just nervous..."

"Do you think I should tell him about the whole situation?" she asked hesitantly as she took another sip from the cup.

"Do what you think is best, Ryou!" Yukine smiled trying lighten the mood.

"Hm, yeah..." she mumbled thoughtfully as she finished the coffee, placing the cup down. With a sigh and a neatening of her skirt, she stood up. "Well..., Thanks for the advice, Yukine"

"Don't worry about it!" Yukine chuckled "I hope you found that fortune telling book useful, by the way."

As she approached the door at a comfortable pace, Ryou took a moment to linger near the bookcase, leaning forward to browse the contents.

"Hey… Do you have any books about art?" Ryou asked as she looked hard at the shelves.

"Not sure. I'll have to look around later, though. I think lessons will be starting up soon, so we'd better get to our classes." Yukine responded, beginning to pack away all the catering equipment. "If I can find something, I'll let you know!"

"Thank you!" Ryou bowed her head as a gesture of thanks and left the room, beginning to walk down the corridor.

She didn't believe Kyou's story about being groped by James, but at the same time she didn't want to believe that her own sister would stoop so low as to lie about something like that. "I'll have to ask him!" Ryou resolved as she entered her classroom.

James sat in his chair at the edge of the classroom, gazing outside. She was happy to see that he was back finally.

As she walked closer to him, however, she began to have second thoughts "...If I tell him about Kyou it's just going to make things worse!"

She decided to keep quite for the time being and not tell James about Kyou's ridiculous vendetta.

As she got closer, her whole body began to shiver a little. Bracing herself, she took a breath and stepped forward.

"H-hey James..." She tapped him on the shoulder.

"Argh!" James groaned making Ryou step back a little

"S-sorry!" she gasped "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think" James groaned as he rubbed his shoulder "I've just been to the nurse, actually On the way to school, your sister..."

James paused and looked around, carefully lowering his voice to a quiet murmur "Your sister almost ran me over with her bike!"

Ryou suddenly felt uncomfortable "Oh, uh… D-did she drive you to school?"

"Yeah!" James replied "But only halfway! I was quite surprised, really. Y'know, since she's been a bit hostile with me ever since I came here!"

Ryou began breathing heavily "D-did you t-touch m-my s-sister a-anywhere?" her face became bright red, and her voice had become shaky and hard to hear.

"She made me hold onto her waist while she drove up here, if that's what you mean" he looked at Ryou worriedly. He could tell that she had become flustered.

She put her hand on her chest and gave a sigh of relief.

"Why do you ask?" James asked as he stared at her.

"I-it's nothing really!" she said in a slightly panicky voice.

"Okay...?" James muttered. He could tell that Ryou wasn't going to answer him if he pried further. "Oh, by the way," he began, opting to change the subject "Do you want to hang out in town tomorrow?"

Ryou smiled "Oh, of course!"

James suddenly facepalmed "Ah, actually, wait!" he muttered "I've got homework to do, so I might not be able to make it, on second thought!"

"That's okay!" she smiled "I can help you out while we're in town!"

"Oh, thank god!" he shouted slightly in relief "I'm going to need help getting it all done!"

Ryou chuckled "Don't worry, we can do it together!"

"Thank you so much!" he shook Ryou's hand and her face went completely red.

"Want to hang out with me during break,? If you can I mean," she said trying not to stutter.

"Sure thing!" James smiled "Is it okay if Kotomi joins us?"

"Of course! I think we would both like to get to know her better."

With that, she walked back to her seat and sat down waiting for the lesson to begin.

To be continued...

 **Authors Note:**

 **Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Thought it would be interesting to do a chapter from Ryou's perspective and I'd say it went well!**  
 **Thanks to my friend Rose for helping me edit this chapter!**


	7. Chapter 6: Arrangements

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 6: Arrangements.**

The class was over for the first break.

James had listened patiently to what the teacher had to say, just in case he was called out again.

It had been utterly embarrassing the last time that had happened. He'd managed to fall asleep in the middle of the lesson.

He noticed neither Okazaki nor Sunohara had turned up to the lesson. At first, he assumed they were both ill, but then he'd remembered that they were known as trouble makers.

He'd wanted a word with Okazaki about what had happened with Nagisa, but had decided against it even if he had shown up "He'd probably whack me if I brought up the subject..."

He slowly crept out of his seat adjusted his flat-cap and made sure his bag was packed tightly. His shoulder was still in immense pain, but the nurse has explained that it was just a bruise.

As he waited for all the other students to leave the class, Ryou stood by the door, patiently waiting for James.

He walked to the door and turned his head to Ryou "Meet me in the grounds!" He said as they both walked into the corridor "I'll see if I can get Kotomi to join us."

"Sure thing!" Ryou smiled as she walked down the other end of the corridor.

As James made his way to the library, he spotted Okazaki, who appeared to be thinking deeply.

"Hey man!" he waved.

Okazaki came to his senses and glanced at James.

"Do I know you?" he mumbled.

James suddenly felt a nervous pain in his stomach "Y-yes! We're in the same class!"

"Oh!" Okazaki exclaimed "James something, right?" he asked, not appearing particularly interested.

"J-James Walker!" he said nervously "So, where have you been this morning?"

"Is it any of your business?" Okazaki asked.

"S-sorry..." James replied in embarrassment. He realised that it had probably been quite a forward thing to ask someone he didn't know very well.

"Have you seen Sunohara this morning?" Okazaki asked as he walked along the corridor.

"Nope!" James replied "No sign of him."

Okazaki sighed in annoyance "He's probably slacking off..."

"I see..." James replied "Well if I see him around, I'll let you know I guess..."

"Well," Okazaki sighed "Don't expect to find me in class..." And with that, Okazaki continued to walk down the corridor without another word.

James then turned around and continued his walk to the library.

"Hey!" A female voice shouted.

James took no notice as he continued to walk until he felt a hand grasp his shoulder.

"Hey I'm trying to talk to you!"

James turned to see who had grabbed his shoulder, and to his surprise, it was Tomoyo.

"Oh sorry!" James apologized "I didn't realise you were speaking to me!"

"It's fine!" she replied as she removed her hand from his shoulder "Sorry but what's your name again?"

"James Walker" He replied "You're...Sakagami right?"

"Tomoyo Sakagami" she replied "You're friends with those two delinquents, right? Okazaki and Sunohara?"

"Well..." James thought for a second "More of an acquaintance than a friend..."

"I see..." she replied "Look, I'm sorry to ask this, but you saw that pathetic fight I had with Sunohara the other day..."

She looked down on the ground worriedly "If you didn't know, it was self defense. Would you think I was a bully…?"

"No!" James replied "It was clearly self defense! Sunohara went for you first, after all!"

"I guess..." she replied "I'm just worried that I come off as some sort of bully at this school! I mean, everyone's talking about the biker incident, and it doesn't help that those two delinquents have been harassing me in the corridors..."

"Well, I think people will forget about these things over time."

Tomoyo smiled "I hope so. I have plans to participate in the student council elections in a few months!"

"Student council?" James was very surprised.

Tomoyo nodded "Yes!" Tomoyo glanced at her watch "Oh, uh, actually- I'm on a bit of a tight schedule, but thanks for having this conversation with me James!"

"No problem!" James smiled "I'll make sure to vote for you!" he chuckled.

Tomoyo smiled "That's really kind of you, I'm going to need as much support as I can get."

Tomoyo then turned around and walked through the corridor and James once again continued his walk to the library.

He got there after a few minutes. As usual, the doors were closed. James carefully opened them, making sure not to make too much noise in case anyone aside from Kotomi was in the room.

He looked around, and as usual there was no one in plain sight, but James could hear a noise.

It sounded like crying.

"Is she upset?" James wondered as he began to walk to where Kotomi usually sat.

He found Kotomi crying on the floor. She didn't notice James as she wiped her eyes, fighting away the tears.

"K-kotomi-Chan?" James called her name worriedly as he slowly sat down beside her.

Kotomi glanced over at James.

"J-James..." she choked "I'm g-glad to see you!" she wiped her eyes again.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked worriedly.

She blew her nose "I-I j..." Kotomi choked up again as more tears poured down her face "I just met someone… someone who was my first and only friend a long time ago..."

Kotomi turned her head and glanced at the floor.

"Y-you don't seem too happy about it," James suddenly felt like he was about to cry. He was used to seeing Kotomi as a shy, quiet girl. This was completely out of character.

"He..." Kotomi wiped her eyes again "He doesn't remember me!" she shouted as she began to cry heavily again.

"W-who was this guy?" James asked as he patted Kotomi's back.

"The thing is..." Kotomi seemed to be ignoring the question "If I see him again...I don't know if I want him to remember… or if I want him to forget..."

"Kotomi..." James muttered as he brought out a pack of tissues from his bag and wiped his eyes as he was starting to tear up.

"I… I'm sorry James, but..." she turned her head to him. Her eyes were bloodshot and streaks of dried tears could be seen on her face "I want to be alone right now..."

James removed his hand from Kotomi's back and slowly got up "Alright," he muttered.

He slowly walked out of the library and turned back to Kotomi as he reached the door "But remember I am here for you, if you need me..."

James left the library and began to walk down the corridor.

"I wonder who she was talking about?" James thought as he slowly walked.

After a few minutes he found Ryou sitting alone in the grounds.

"Hi James!" she waved and smiled, but James didn't reply as he felt really sad.

Ryou noticed that James seemed down and put her hand on his shoulder "Is something wrong?" she asked worriedly

"I..." He paused for a second "I've just been to see Kotomi… She was crying," James wiped his eyes with his sleeves and Ryou brought out a pack of tissues.

"Here," she passed the tissues to James as he took a couple from the pack.

"Thanks!" He blew his nose.

"So..." she cleared her throat "Why was Kotomi upset?"

James explained what he had been told in the library as Ryou listened with interest.

"I see..." she said quietly.

"Well, I don't think she will be joining us tomorrow," James sighed as he took out a bottle of water from his bag and drank it.

"Yeah" Ryou stood up and took a deep breath "So... Do you still want to go into town tomorrow? S-sorry for c-changing the subject..."

"It's fine!" James said as he got up and stretched his arms and legs.

James thought for a second "So..."

 **WHACK!**

James felt something hard hit his head. The impact almost threw him off his feet in a dizzying rush of movement.

"W-what was that?" James groaned as he tried to keep his balance.

Kyou suddenly appeared "Guess who?" she laughed.

"Oh hi, Kyou!" James had started to feel back to normal after that shock attack.

"D-did you throw something at me?" he asked as he sat back down.

Kyou laughed "Yeah, actually! Sorry about that!"

She walked over and picked up a thick blue book from the ground, dusting it off.

"Didn't mean to whack you there, though!" she giggled.

Ryou suddenly felt uncomfortable "W-why a-are y-you here?" she asked shyly.

Kyou put her arm around James and held him tightly "I want to hang out with you guys in town tomorrow!" she grinned "And I know just where to go!"

"W-where?" James struggled to breathe as Kyou was holding him too tight "Hey, uh, could you let me go? Please?" he gasped.

"Sorry!" Kyou let James go. He took a few deep breaths.

"Meet me and Ryou tomorrow near the school entrance!"

Kyou pointed to her sister "He has your number right?"

"Y-yes!" she replied as her face became bright red.

"But I don't have a phone!" James informed them.

"Don't worry, we'll help you pick one out tomorrow!"

James glanced at his watch "Ryou, we'd better get off to class!"

"You'd better go first!" she laughed "I'll meet you there!"

"Alright!" James waved as he ran to the classroom.

Ryou turned to her sister "Kyou, what are you up to now?"

Kyou sighed and sat down on the bench "I've given it some thought, okay? And you're right. I've been wrong about James, and I wanna get to know him!"

Ryou was speechless "R-really?"

"Yep!" Kyou smiled.

"Thank you!" Ryou sat next to Kyou and hugged her.

"Haha no problem!" she laughed embarrassingly.

Ryou suddenly noticed Kyou's hand which now has a white bandage over it.

"Sis? W-what… What happened to your hand?" she asked as she grabbed Kyou's bandaged hand and examined it.

"Hey! I-it's nothing!" she exclaimed as she freed her hand.

She flinched in pain as her hand was still hurt from punching the tree.

Ryou looked at her sister worriedly.

"Anyway, get to class!" she suddenly stood up and ran the other way "I'll see you at the end of the day!"

Ryou sighed stood up and began to walk back to class.

 **To be continued...**  
 **One again thanks to my friend Rose for helping me edit!**


	8. Chapter 7: Melancholy

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 7: Melancholy.**

James sat at his desk gazing outside. He kept his mind on one thing in particular…Kotomi in the library and it was something that he couldn't get out of his mind currently.

"Who made her so upset?" James wondered.

He suddenly heard the eerie sound of metal rubbing against a surface. It turned out that it was Tomoya Okazaki, going to his desk to take a seat.

"Oh hey man!" James greeted.

Okazaki glanced at James. "Hey…" He said unenthusiastically.

James' mind suddenly clicked. _Maybe it was Okazaki?!_

"Um..." James cleared his throat "Okazaki do you kn-"

Ryou then came into the classroom and Okazaki suddenly stood up in reaction to her entrance.

"Fujibayashi!" Okazaki called over to Ryou. "I need a word with you about your sister!"

Ryou quickly ran over to him "W-what is it?" She asked worriedly. "Did my sister do something to you?"

James listened with interest. He suddenly remembered that Ryou had a huge crush on Okazaki although he didn't understand why although to be fair he didn't know him that well...

"Yes as a matter of fact!" Okazaki shouted, attracting the attention of their classmates around them. "She and her bi-"

The door suddenly opened Kyou quickly entered the room and grabbed Okazaki. "You come with me RIGHT NOW!" She exclaimed pulling him out of the classroom and they had both left the within seconds and the entire classroom was muttering about what Okazaki had said.

"Did he say "Bi"?" One student asked.

"What's "Bi"?" another one muttered.

""Bi"?" Ryou muttered to herself.

James chuckled and whispered in Ryou's ear. "I think he was talking about her motorbike!"

"Oh…!" Ryou nodded.

Okazaki came back into the classroom and sat back down on his desk.

Even though she thought James was right she thought it was better to ask. "Okazaki what were you talking about with my sister just now?"

Okazaki suddenly stood up from his chair and shouted to everyone in the class. " **LISTEN EVERYONE I FOUND OUT THAT KYOU FUJIBAYASHI IN CLASS-E IS BI!"**

Ryou looked at Okazaki in confusion but James was on the floor laughing.

" **Hahahaha**!" He gasped for breath. "Good one man…!" He got up and patted Okazaki's back.

"What's "Bi"?" Ryou asked puzzled.

"Now that you mention it she does look a little masculine." One student muttered.

James laughed. "It's where a girl is romantically interested in both guys and girls but Oka-ack!"

Kyou had burst into the room and grabbed James and Okazaki by their throats and dragged them outside the classroom.

With a bloodthirsty look on her face she held them both in the air against the wall.

 **"I'M...GONNA...KILL…YOU…BOTH!"** She threatened.

"I can't breathe!" They both gasped.

Ryou suddenly ran outside to where Kyou was. "I-is it true sis what he just said?" She asked worriedly.

"Come on don't you believe it too!" She shouted. "It's a bike! A motorized scooter you know like a Vespa!"

...

After that things continued as normal.

James stayed inside the classroom during lunch since he wasn't feeling hungry and still couldn't get Kotomi out of his mind.

Even during the next lesson he still thought about her as he tried to concentrate on the class. Eventually the lesson ended after what seemed like hours and James was able to go home.

As James walked out the door Ryou rushed over to him "James do you want to walk home together?" She hesitantly asked, blushing.

"Meet me outside the school!" He exclaimed. "I have things I need to do!"

Ryou looked at James worriedly. "Kotomi…?"

"Yep..." James replied as he walked along the corridor as Ryou watched him.

 _If she's still there I hope she's ok!_ James thought as he walked through the corridor.

He hadn't been able to ask Okazaki if he was the one that had upset Kotomi or not but thought it best not to.

What could he have done if it was Okazaki that had upset her?! Okazaki was clearly stronger than he was so it would just end badly...

As he walked past an empty classroom with an open door he heard a sort of sound that sounded like wood being scraped and rubbed by the blade of a knife.

"Huh?" He retraced his steps as he crept into the classroom.

In the corner there was a girl with green hair. Based on the girl's uniform, James could identify this girl as a freshman due to her uniform patch being green in colour. She held a small pocket knife in her hand and from what James could see appeared to be carving with wood and that wood was the shape of...A star?

James slowly walked up to the girl.

"Hey." He waved.

The girl suddenly stopped what she was going and looked at James.

They stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds...

" **ARGH!** "

The girl screamed and ran out of the classroom taking her knife and star carving with her.

James jumped in shock and fell on the floor knocking a chair over with a loud * **CLUNK!***

"Argh shit!" James groaned as he slowly got up and rubbed his already bruised shoulder.

He brushed himself off put his flat-cap on and left the classroom "Well that was weird!" James mumbled to himself as he remembered the star. "Is she the one who gave me the star the other day? What was the significance of it?"

Eventually he arrived at the library and slowly crept inside.

"Kotomi?" He called out quietly.

He continued to walk around the library and scanned for any signs of her but his efforts were less than successful as was not able to find her…Anywhere.

"She must have left… Why do I keep thinking about her?" James sighed.

He didn't know why but he really liked Kotomi. She seemed like a fun person and even though she was extremely shy (Possibly surpassing the shyness he and Ryou possessed.) he found her interesting and rather cute.

...

James met up with the Fubjibayashi twins outside the school grounds.

"Well?" Ryou asked looking at James worriedly.

James sighed. "She's gone."

James looked at James sadly "Don't worry" she put her hand on his shoulder "She'll be ok!" she then smiled.

"Yeah." James faked a smile.

Kyou patted James on the back "Haha sorry about earlier!" She exclaimed. "Remember to meet us here tomorrow!"

"What time?" James asked.

"Um..." Ryou thought about it for a few seconds.

"10:00AM!" Kyou shouted

"Sis!" Ryou gasped "Don't you think that's a little early?"

"There will be less people so it will be easier for us to move around!" she grinned.

"Yeah 10:00AM is fine!" James complied.

Kyou then began walking away "See you tomorrow James!" She exclaimed "See you at home Ryou!"

"Y-yeah!" She mumbled as her face went bright red.

"Um." James suddenly noticed that Ryou was breathing heavily. "Are you ok?"

"Y-yes!" she gasped "S-sorry I-it's kind of awkward!"

"In what way?" He questioned, giving her a confused look.

"W-well..."

James could tell she was having trouble breathing...

"E-earlier s-someone asked..." she paused in order to breathe for a few seconds "I-if we were..."

"We were what?" James questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I-it's nothing!" She assured. "S-shall w-we start walking?"

"Sure." James thought it was best not to question any further in case Ryou had a panic attack or something...

They walked along the path without talking for several minutes until they reached James' flat.

"Well." James sighed "I'll see you tomorrow then!"

"Y-yeah!" Ryou stuttered.

As James started to walk up the stair's Ryou suddenly grasped his shoulder.

"I'll show you my drawings tomorrow!" She said.

"Sure thing!" He grinned. "I look forward to seeing them!"

"Y-yeah!" Her face color tone deepened in red. "I-I've b-been mean to show you them over the past few days!"

James laughed. "Yeah but there's been a lot of inconveniences."

"One more thing." She blurted.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"D-do y-you...Like Kotomi?"

James' face went bright red. "L-like in w-w-what way?" He stuttered.

"Never mind!" Her face became redder as she turned to walk off. "See you tomorrow!" She turned her head and waved.

"See you!" He waved back and began to walk up the stairs to his area of the flat.

The walk was dead quiet. James and his mother had been living at the flat for around a week but they had never heard or seen anyone around the building.

The corridor was just silent with the creepy howling of wind in the background.

The walls looked like they needed a new coat of paint, as the integrity and quality of the paint was slowly fading away, in addition to the wall to have been subject to Graffiti art that looked more disrespectful than artistic, with its rude statements that have been slabbed on by someone just for the kicks.

As James got to the door he listened quietly for any movement inside the flat. He slowly turned the doorknob and entered the flat.

"Welcome home!" Victoria shouted through the kitchen.

"Yeah thanks!" He replied as he walked to his bedroom.

Even though he was happy that his mum seemed to be feeling better he felt too tired to react.

"Oh I found your laptop in one of the boxes I unpacked!" Victoria shouted again through the kitchen.

James hadn't given his laptop much thought over the past few days so he was very surprised. "Thanks mum!" He sang.

He walked into his bedroom and saw his laptop bag placed on the bed. He slowly unpacked his stuff changed into pyjamas and booted up the laptop.

The screen shined brightly in the dimly lit room and James had to cover his eyes for a few seconds with the sudden change in lighting.

James left the laptop for a few minutes to fully reconnect and then connect the flats Wi-Fi connection to his laptop.

He signed onto Hotmail to check out his E-mail. The indication on his inbox had read that he had a new, un-read message. He looked at the E-mail address. It was one of James' old friends from his last school.

He hadn't given his old school much thought over the past few days but he did miss his school and his friends despite all the bad stuff that had happened there over the past few months.

He clicked the email and it opened up.

He slowly began to read:

 _ **Hi James!**_

 _ **It's me Mark!**_

 _ **The class really misses you but at the same time we all hope you're**_ __ _ **having a good time in Japan!**_

 _ **I bet it's great to get away from all the stress after what "they" did to you...**_

James stopped reading for a few seconds. He didnt want to be reminded about the events at his last school due to the amount of misery that he'd suffered throughout the last few months.

He continued to read:

 _ **Hope we can meet again someday though!**_

 _ **Please reply to this email as soon as you can mate bye!**_

James sighed. "What should I reply with?" he thought as he looked at the empty reply space.

He opened up the option in Hotmail to reply to his friends' message and began to type.

 _ **Hey Mark!**_

 _ **Well things are fine so far!**_

 _ **I'm still settling in at the flat and school has been rather chaotic.**_

 _ **There's a lot of interesting characters at the place and I've already made a few friends:**_

 _ **Kyou and Ryou Fujibayashi (they're twins) and Kotomi Ichinose.**_

 _ **It would be cool for all of us to meet some day but I doubt it will happen...**_

 _ **Thanks for emailing me though and I'll reply back since I'm pretty busy!**_

And with that James clicked send and closed down the laptop. He sat on his bed and began to think.

He wanted to come back to England one day but at the same time it was filled with unhappy memories that he wanted desperately to forget...

"I just don't know..." James shook his head with a sigh.

 **To Be Continued...**

 **Authors note: Thanks to my friend PSYLOD for helping me edit this!**

 **(Chapter 8 coming soon!)**


	9. Chapter 8: Day Out (Part 1)

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 8: Day out (Part 1)**

It was 9:00PM…

At the Fujibayashi residence, Kyou sat on her bed while Ryou was sitting on the floor arranging her fortune telling cards. Ryou hummed a little tune to herself as she placed the deck of cards on a table next to a lamp.

Kyou glanced at the cards. "Did you read James' his fortune?" Kyou questioned with a light chuckle.

"No." Ryou frowned glancing down at her cards.

Kyou then lay down and put her hands and ran it through her hair while glancing at the ceiling. "You're worried about tomorrow aren't you?"

The color tone in Ryou's face went bright pink "Y-yes!" She mumbled as she picked up a small notebook under the table and flicked through the pages.

"W-what if he laughs at my drawings?" She sounded like she was about to cry so Kyou tried to lighten the mood.

"Sis just remember..."

Ryou glanced at her sister hoping for some words of wisdom...

"If he does I WILL kill him!" She growled.

"Sis!" Ryou exclaimed

"I'm just kidding!" Kyou laughed. "Jeez no need to get so worked up!"

Ryou remained silent for a few seconds "So...You're really trying to get along with him?"

Kyou sighed in annoyance. "Ryou we've been through this! I want to try and get to know him since we got off to a bad start!"

"Sure." Ryou mumbled still not quite believing her sisters words.

Kyou sighed and crouched down to the floor next to Ryou and hugged her "Look, I'm sorry about before it's just...You know how I am..."

"Yeah…" Ryou muttered, fighting the urge to cry.

"You're my only sister" Kyou continued. "And I care about you...I just worry that you might put yourself in danger somehow..."

"I..." Ryou wiped the flowing tears from her eyes. "I'm glad you're at least trying to get to know him!"

"Ryou." Kyou's tone of voice became more serious. "Do you…Like James?" She paused for a moment as she realized what she was asking. "In a way more than just being friends with him?"

Kyou let go of her sister and Ryou's shade of red on her face darkened. "I don't know...I mean we only met a few days ago." Her tears started to flow heavily from her face "But I want to go out with Okazaki!" She choked as she covered her face with her hands.

Kyou hugged Ryou and gently rubbed her back. "Shhh it's ok! I think James can help you out with Okazaki."

Ryou removed her hands and her bloodshot teary eyes glared at her sister.

"W-what?" She asked confused.

Kyou grinned "Just leave it to me!"

...

 **James walked around inside a library. The bookshelves stood ridiculously tall reaching the ceiling and the books appeared massive.**

 **It was as though James was a dwarf inside the library.**

 **As James walked everything became bigger and bigger.**

 **"What the heck's going on?!" James thought to himself as he began to get freaked out by the situation.**

 **He suddenly stopped as he heard a familiar crying sound.**

 **"Kotomi?!" James gasped as he ran towards the sound.**

 **Suddenly from behind he heard two familiar laughs and James stopped dead in his tracks in disbelief.**

 **"It can't be?!" He turned his head and saw two giant shadows.**

 **The taunting laughter to James' shock matched the voices to that of the one's he'd had some trouble with in the past back home…People who bullied him, people who had used him and hurt him.**

 **It felt to James like a game of cat and mouse.**

 **He was small and the bullies were giants trying to find their way after him!**

 **The sound of Kotomi's crying increased and James immediately chased after its echo. "I'm coming Kotomi!" He shouted as he ran.**

 **The shadows behind him were coming closer and closer and the laughs ever so louder.**

 **James turned a corner and there was Kotomi in her school uniform.**

 **Like when he had found her at the school library she was crying and didn't seem to realize what was going on.**

 **James quickly ran over to her and put his hands on her shoulders "Kotomi-chan! It's me James!"**

 **Kotomi looked up with bloodshot eyes and smiled. "James!"**

 **The laughs were becoming even more louder any second and they would be with them.**

 **"Kotomi listen to me! We've got to-"**

 **Suddenly Kotomi vanished into thin air.**

 **"K-kotomi?!"**

 **She had vanished and it was as if she had never been there to begin with.**

 **"What's going on?!" James questioned to himself.**

 **Suddenly the area became pitch black and the laughter became louder and louder.**

 **"No!" James gasped.**

 **"Long time no see James!" One of the familiar voiced laughed. "Shall we continue where we left off?!**

 **Suddenly James was falling and falling and falling into a pit of eternal darkness.**

…

"Argh!" James woke up gasping for breath.

James looked at his bed sheets to find that they were drenched in his own sweat.

He looked around his room turning his head left and right franticly with sweat dripping from his forehead.

"J..just a dream.." He sighed with relief.

He got up from the bed and left the room slowly opening the door so to not disturb his mother in case she was still asleep.

He turned his head and quickly glanced at the unfinished painting of the school grounds.

Only roughly about half of the canvas had been painted since James had been too busy with school and being ill to do any more work on it.

He felt the canvas which felt slippery due to the paint but the untouched parts felt bone dry.

"I guess I can show it to Kyou and Ryou!"

He then as quite as possible walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

"That was one creepy ass dream!" James thought to himself as he rubbed his hair with shower gel.

Images of the vanishing Kotomi then began to surface in his mind.

"Damn it! Why am I thinking about her?!"

He suddenly felt a weird tingling feeling in his stomach.

He knew that feeling...

"Please tell me that's not the case!" He thought as he rubbed his arms and legs with the shower gel. "I don't wanna get involved with another girl!"

James hoped that he was going through a phase but he wasn't sure...

He turned off the shower and made sure he was dry as he put his Pajama bottoms back on and went back into the bedroom.

He looked at his clock which read 7:50AM.

"I might as well start getting ready!" he muttered to himself.

Within 10 minutes he had already put on a green shirt dark blue trousers his brown trench coat and striped black and grey flat-cap.

He combed his sideburns which were starting to look a little bushy "I'll have to trim these later!"

He packed the half-finished painting into a plastic bag and put his sketchpad under his arm. As he quietly left the room he quickly wrote down a note and left it on the table.

 **Dear mum:**

 **Out with a couple friends today in town.**

 **I should be back late this afternoon probably at about 6:00PM.**

 **Love from James xxx**

He opened the door and felt a horrible chill.

"Man its cold today!" He suddenly realised.

James immediately shut the door and went back to his bedroom.

He went into his wardrobe and picked out a long scarf with several different colored patterns on it.

"I'll have to be careful wearing this!" He thought to himself as he wrapped the scarf several times around his neck.

"Oh!" he searched his pockets and realized he hadn't brought any money!

He brought out a money box from under his bed.

All the money was Japanese currency which James had converted weeks before they moved to Japan.

He looked at the notes in confusion since he still wasn't good with the currency.

He put three notes in his pockets hoping that it would be enough for the day and headed outside the flat.

As James walked through the quiet street he couldn't help but notice how quite it was.

He could see a few elderly people walking together and chatting away people stood around their front gardens gardening and the odd car drove through the road now and then.

He wondered if the bakery would be open but it was closed it was a Sunday after all...

As James got deeper into the town things got busier cars honked at each other people were busy inside stores and a few homeless people sat on the ground asking for spare change.

As James looked at the various stores he noticed a book store "I guess I can pass the time here for a bit!" He thought as he entered.

The store had a fair amount of people standing around browsing through the books a receptionist sat near the door as a que of people lined up to pay for their books.

He couldn't read the signs which explained what categories the books were in so James looked at a few shelves and took some books out and had a quick look through.

"I'm really gonna need to get better at reading this kind of stuff!" He thought as he flicked through a cookery book.

He then looked through some gardening books and thought that maybe if they had an actual house and not a flat he wouldn't mind doing some gardening as a hobby.

As he put away one of the books he noticed someone in one of the rows browsing through the books.

It was Kotomi.

Images of his nightmare suddenly flashes in his mind and James felt a chill go down his spine.

"Pretty sure this isn't a dream..." He reminded himself, walking over to Kotomi.

He placed his hand gently onto her shoulder "Hello Kotomi-chan!"

Kotomi suddenly stopped reading and turned her head.

She smiled. "Oh hello James!"

James suddenly blushed "Um..." He paused for a moment and loosened his scarf "H-hey!" He said feeling rather awkward.

"S-so how are you?" James asked. "I looked for you in the library when school ended and you werent there were you feeling alright?"

Kotomi suddenly looked a little sad. "Yes...I go home early sometimes...Since I'm one of the top standing students I don't have to go home at the same time as everyone else"

"I see..." James replied not sure whether or not this was the truth.

He suddenly had an image in his mind of Kotomi on a bed crying to herself on a pillow.

"Well I'm just glad you're alright!" He smiled. "I was quite worried!"

Kotomi's facial color suddenly converted itself to a bright red. "S-sorry for making you worry!" She apologized.

James could see that she was about to burst into tears. "So what are you reading?" He asked trying to change the subject.

"All the different books!" She exclaimed smiling "I have to read lots of books otherwise I won't become a great person!"

She placed the book she was holding back onto the shelf and turned her head back to James. "I come here all the time when I'm not at school!"

"You sure love books!" He replied "Anything that you want to buy?"

Kotomi gave James a look of concern "I'd love to buy all of the books here but I can't afford them all." She then looked rather sad.

James gave an awkward laugh as Kotomi took out another book and browsed through it.

Suddenly she brought out a pair of scissors and opened them up.

"K-kotomi what are you doing?!" He exclaimed trying not to shout.

She suddenly turned her attention to him again as if she'd forgotten that he was even there.

"Huh?" She mumbled confused.

James looked around in panic to make sure no one could see. He didnt want Kotomi getting into trouble.

"Look I know you love books but you can't go around cutting pages! You'll get yourself arrested or something!"

"J-james...are you...a bully?" She quivered.

"N-no!" He exclaimed "J-just put the scissors down!"

Kotomi glanced at the scissors.

"You know what..." James sighed as he removed the scissors from her hand "I'll hold onto these for now!"

Kotomi still looking rather upset when James took her scissors and sighed, putting the book back on the shelf.

"So do you want to buy that book?" James asked as he looked around to make sure no one saw what had just occurred.

She shook her head. "I'm planning to buy a cookbook. This is just a detour!"

"Funny since I had a look through a cookbook earlier!" James couldn't help but feel surprised. He thought that a cookbook would be the last thing she would want to buy.

"Do you like cooking?" She asked softly.

James thought about that for a moment "Yeah but I'm not that good a cook...I'll usually just cook stuff from frozen rather than making something from scratch!"

"Do you like apple pie?" she asked.

"Not really no I can't stand the taste of strong apples..."

"Oh..." Kotomi muttered sadly "I enjoy making apple pie...Just like…Like…" Kotomi's voice seemed to gradually lower and she was trying to keep herself together from allowing some form of pain to get the best of her.

"So where were you before you came here?" James asked not noticing that Kotomi was preventing tears.

"At a different bookstore"

"And before that?"

"At a different bookstore"

"And before that?"

"At a-"

James quickly cut her off. "Wait don't tell me you were at a different bookstore!"

Kotomi nodded while giggling lightly.

"God damn it how many bookstores are in this town?!" He thought to himself.

"So what are you going to every bookstore in this town?" He asked jokingly.

"Yes!" Kotomi smiled.

James stopped chuckling to himself "Oh...so how long have you been going to all these different bookstores?"

"Hmm..." Kotomi thought for a few seconds "Since one o'clock."

"W-w-what?" James gasped in shock.

Kotomi nodded. "This will be the last one though. It's the largest one so I save it for last!"

She smiled as if she were a child receiving a birthday cake.

"Why do I get the feeling that if I were to hang around with her all day I'd be going nowhere except bookstores!" he thought to himself.

"No offence Kotomi but you are rather weird..."

Kotomi looked at James hurt as she backed away slowly

"You ARE a bully aren't you?" She questioned with a frown.

"N-no!" He insisted. "It's just well-"

"I'm going now." She cut him off.

"Back home?" he asked worriedly.

She shook her head. "No to one of the other shelves."

"Hey I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings just now I didn't..."

Kotomi glanced at James "Its fine...I'm used to it..." She muttered under her breath.

James felt rather guilty "Um...Can you tell me if they have any art books here?"

Without a reply Kotomi began to walk. James followed her unsure if she was going to show him or if she was just ignoring him...

She stopped moments later at a selection of books in the corner with a couple red leather chairs to sit on.

Kotomi turned to James "Here!" She smiled.

James sighed with relief. "Thank you Kotomi!"

Kotomi responded with a slight chuckle.

James looks at the spines and noticed one name that he immediately recognized " **Picasso** "

James immediately took the book from the shelf and flicked through the pages.

Kotomi watched with interest.

Seconds later James stopped at one of the pictures of the paintings it was one of Picasso's most famous works "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon _"_

James looked at the painting with awe "Picasso was certainly a genius!" He muttered to himself as Kotomi glanced at the picture.

"He certainly was!" Kotomi agreed.

"The sad thing was." James begun "He worked for months on this painting trying to be different new original and exciting!" James tried his best not to raise his voice at the admiration. "But when he showed it to his artist friends they all thought it was crap and one friend told him that his humiliation would be so great that he'd be found hanging behind the canvas!"

James briefly removed his flat-cap and scratched his head.

"He hid it away didn't he?" Kotomi asked quietly.

"Yeah..." He nodded. "He was afraid of the embarrassment..."

"Are there any painting's that you're embarrassed about?" She asked softly.

James put his hand over his face. "Mainly the first paintings I did!" He groaned. "They are just pure and utter crap!"

James turned his head to face Kotomi. "You told me you have a mild interest in art right?"

"Yes!" She replied trying not to appear blushing.

"I..." he took a deep breath as he placed his flat-cap back onto his head "I want you to show me your work next time I see you!"

Kotomi looked at James nervously. "I'll try...I don't draw much but maybe I'll do some drawing tonight..."

James smiled. "Do you want to see some of my work?" He smiled "I've got some of it with me!"

Kotomi looked at James in excitement "Yes please!" She replied grasping both her hands.

He brought out his half-finished painting of the school grounds and Kotomi's eye's widened.

"It's really good!" She gasped.

James blushed slightly. "I'm not sure...maybe it's because I don't like my own work..."

Kotomi held onto the half-finished painting admiring it as James opened up his sketch pad.

There wasn't too much to show. Just sketches of bowls of fruit tables and chairs and the sketch that James had done observing Kotomi just a few days before...

"I think you're amazing James!" Kotomi's voice went slightly high pitched at this remark and James grinned in embarrassment and tried to hide it by covering his face.

"T-thanks!" He stuttered.

As James put away all his art work Kotomi took another look at Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.

"Do you think...?" She gulped as her face went bright red at what she was asking. "Do you think you would ever paint a nude woman?" Her voice became almost silent as she finished the sentence.

James fell back onto the chair in shock and his face went very deep in red. "Um...W-w-well I...I...I..." He twirled his left sideburn as he was becoming flustered "I don't k-know!"

Kotomi has noticed how embarrassed James seemed at being asked such a question "S-sorry if that was wrong to ask..." She exclaimed as she put her hand over her face to cover up her now bright red cheeks.

James took a deep breath and looked at the clock on the wall.

"9:30!" he gasped "I've got to go!" he exclaimed as he quickly arose from his seat.

He quickly turned to Kotomi. "Do...do you want to join me?"

Kotomi looked at James worridly "N-no s-sorry!" she was shaking slightly "W-what if Ryou's sister bullies me?!"

"That's not gonna happen!" He assured.

"N-no!" Her voice was starting to become panicky "S-she'll bully me! S-she will!"

James sighed.

Even though he could understand Kotomi's fear since he'd encountered many bullies over the years it seemed as if this conversation wouldn't convince her to join them.

"Well I'll see you at school tomorrow!" he waved as he began to walk off.

As James reached the door he felt Kotomi's arm grab his shoulder.

"Wait!" She exclaimed as her eye widened.

"Yeah?" he asked as he stared at her.

She removed her hand from his shoulder "Um...t-tomorrow...d-do you..."

She started to play with her hair as she became more and more nervous.

"W-want t-to eat lunch together?" She said in what almost sounded like a whisper and her face seemed to become redder.

"Sure if you want." James replied as he noticed Kotomi's odd behaviour.

Kotomi smiled and the redness of her face increased.

"S-see you...tomorrow then" she smiled.

"Yeah you too!" he waved as he left the shop.

Neither James nor Kotomi had noticed but James still had Kotomi's scissors in his pockets...

 **To be continued...**


	10. Chapter 9: Day Out (Part 2)

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 9: Day Out (Part 2)**

The Fujibayashi sisters were waiting ten minutes away from the school entrance due to the cold weather both the sisters had put on winter gear: Ryou wore a yellow scarf, a green jumper and dark blue gloves while Kyou just wore a red jumper under her regular clothes.

The wind blew lightly and the twin's hair danced around as they tried to keep it straight.

Ryou checked her watch as she turned her head to look around the area. "Do you think he'll be here?" She asked quietly.

"He should be!" Kyou replied. "How far was his flat from here again?"

"Um..." Ryou thought for a few seconds. "About fifteen to twenty minutes."

"Well if he isn't here in 10 minutes you can show me the way to his flat!" Kyou sighed.

Just then James appeared from up ahead.

Ryou's face immediately lit up. "There he is!" She exclaimed excitedly.

Kyou chuckled to herself glancing at her sister as James ran towards the two girls.

"Hey!" James waved.

"Hey!" They both greeted James.

Kyou whacked James on the shoulder a little harder than she meant to, causing him to fall to the ground with a thud.

"Argh Kyou!" James groaned as he slowly rose to his feet.

Kyou covered her mouth trying not to laugh. "Oh my god I did that a lot harder than I meant to!"

Ryou feeling rather nervous started to speak. "Um...s-so what are we going to do?" she started shaking slightly.

James immediately noticed that Ryou was beginning to shiver and removed his trench coat. "Ryou if you're still cold you can borrow my coat for a bit!" He offered.

"T-thanks b-but I'm fine!" She mumbled.

Kyou looked at her sister with concern. "Sorry James she's kind of shy around people."

James gave an embarrassed laugh. "I noticed!"

Kyou put her arms around James and Ryou. "Okay enough small talk! We'll walk to _Moth Burger_ and have something to drink!"

Ryou blushed and began to feel awkward as they began to walk through the busy town.

After a few minutes they found Moth Burger (which James felt was a bizarre name) which looked more like a cafe than a restaurant.

The building was fairly small with half a dozen tables and chairs spread across the outside and a small amount of people were sat around drinking coffee and eating large portions of burgers chips and various other fast foods that you could think of.

Kyou found an empty table and sat James and Ryou down "Ok what are you two going to drink?"Kyou grinned. "It's my treat!"

"Just a cup of tea." James quickly replied.

"Diet coke." Ryou replied.

"Be right back!" Kyou gave them a thumbs up as she entered the restaurant.

James removed his flat cap and placed it on the table. "Nice scarf!" He complimented.

"Ryou blushed. "Thanks!" Her face went slightly pink "Yours is very vibrant!" She then mumbled.

"I brought one of my paintings with me so once we've had our drinks I'll show you what I'm working on!"

Ryou laughed awkwardly. "I brought some of my drawings too but...compared to you they aren't good at all." She stared at her hands on the table in embarrassment.

"I'm sure they are good!" He replied trying to reassure her. "To tell you the truth I don't like half my work yet others seem to love it for some reason"

"W-well you are very talented!" Ryou replied in a more confident voice than before.

"So were you waiting long?" James asked trying to change the subject.

Ryou chuckled "About 10 minutes!"

"I left at around half 9!" He replied "Oh! I spoke with Kotomi in one of the bookstores!"

Ryou gasped. "H-how is she?"

"Well..." James scratched his head for a few seconds. "She told me that because she is one of the more advanced students she can go home whenever she wants..." He paused for a moment. "But I have a feeling that wasn't the case..."

Ryou nodded. "Well I don't think you should ask her about it in case it upsets her in some way."

"I agree." James sighed. "You know even though she's a nice girl she can be a bit weird sometimes..."

Ryou suddenly cleared her throat "James…" She whispered pointing behind him.

"Huh?"

James turned his head and hiding behind a tree was Kotomi observing them.

"This is what I meant!" He muttered to himself. "Kotomi we can see you!" He waved his hand over to her. "Come over here!"

Kotomi slowly walked towards them.

"Does she want to join us?" Ryou questioned.

"I have no idea..." James mumbled to her.

Kotomi stopped as she reached James.

"So...do you want to join us after all?" He asked

Kotomi shook her head.

"So what do you want?" He looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"You still have my scissors..." She mumbled.

"Huh…?" James quickly searched his pockets and found a pair of scissors in his front pocket.

"Oh god sorry about that!" He apologized as he passed them over to her.

Kotomi took the scissors and placed them in her front pocket before James or Ryou could say anything Kotomi suddenly gasped and ran off down the street.

James gave Ryou an odd look. "See what I mean?"

Ryou wasn't sure what to make of what had just occurred. "Well maybe she is still shy around us!"

"Hey you two!"

Ryou and James looked over in response to Kyou's voice and saw that she had gotten the tray of food that they had selected.

"Oh Kyou!" James quickly stood up and helped her place the tray onto the table.

"I guess Kotomi saw Kyou coming out of the restaurant and that's why she ran off?" James thought to himself.

What James and Ryou hadn't realized was that Kotomi hadn't noticed Kyou at all.

A man wearing all grey with a hat suit and suitcase had suddenly began to follow her.

Kotomi was running extremely fast through the street trying to avoid cars and people as she ran further and further away from the man.

Even as her legs hurt with intense pain feeling out of breath and a burning pain in her chest she continued to run until she finally reached her home.

As she reached the door she stopped for a moment to catch her breath and find the key to the front door in her pocket.

In the corner of her eye the man was coming closer and closer towards her.

"Kotomi!" She heard the man shout but she didn't want to listen.

"He's a bad man!" Kotomi kept thinking to herself frantically as she inserted the door key into the keyhole opening the door and quickly shutting the door and locking it again.

The man frantically knocked on the door. "Kotomi!" She heard him shouting through the door. "Kotomi I just want to talk to you!"

"J-just go away!" She shouted covering her ears trying to ignore the noise.

She felt exhausted from all the running but knew that she couldn't let the man in no matter what and kept herself pressed against the door with all the strength she had left.

Suddenly the knocking stopped and Kotomi ran around the house to make sure that all the doors and windows were locked...

...

James carefully sipped his tea which was still very hot.

"So what are we doing after this?" He asked as he placed the cup back onto the table.

"We'll go to the arcade after this then a bit of shopping!" Kyou grinned.

"What are we shopping for?" Ryou mumbled as she took a sip from her diet coke.

"We're going to help James buy a new phone!" Kyou chuckled.

James was very surprised. "Oh thanks! But you really don't have to-"

Kyou quickly cut him off. "No, no, I insist!"

Kyou quickly opened up her wallet and searched through her notes of cash.

"How much did you bring?" She asked as she glanced at him.

James brought out his wallet and brought out three notes.

"I'm not entirely sure how much this is." He explained as he passed her the notes.

Kyou quickly counted it up and passed the notes back to James. "That's 300 yen!"

"Is that enough?" He asked

"Well..." Kyou sighed "With a bit of spare cash from Ryou and I you should be able to get a phone!"

James fiddled with his left sideburn. "I suppose. Really I only need one to text and call so a cheap phone should do the trick!"

Kyou quickly finished her green tea wiped her mouth and placed her hand on Ryou's shoulder.

"Now before we do anything else there is something that we need to discuss!" Kyou exclaimed.

Ryou looked at her sister confused and James raised an eyebrow.

Kyou turned her head to her sister "Now Ryou you've told James that you have a crush on Okazaki right?"

Ryou's face went slightly pink. "Y-yes!"

"Now the reason that you haven't been able to ask him out is because your waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too shy!" Kyou exclaimed in a patronizing tone of voice.

"So we're discussing ways for Ryou to get more confident around him right?" James asked with interest.

"J-james d-don't you start!" Ryou stuttered with a yelp.

Kyou chuckled. "Sorry I tend to tease her about that! Anyway I think I've come up with the perfect plan!"

"Oh?" James glared at Kyou as she chuckled to herself

"As soon as we finish our drinks we'll go to the park!" She explained.

Ryou glared at her sister worriedly.

"Oh one more thing." Kyou grinned.

She suddenly grabbed James's sideburns and pulled at them hard.

"Argh!" James moaned as he grabbed Kyou's hands moving them away from him as he felt a few hairs rip off.

Ryou gasped. "Sis!"

Kyou grinned as James rubbed his sideburns.

"W-why the heck did you do that?!" James shouted. "That hurt!"

Kyou suddenly laughed out loud making people stair at the trio's table.

"Sorry I just wanted to see if those were fake!" She laughed again as she felt a pain in her side from laughing too much.

Kyou then glanced at James's sketchpad.

"So what drawings have you got to show us?" Kyou grinned.

"Um..." James was feeling rather nervous about showing Kyou his work "There isn't much to show."

He passed the sketchbook over to the twins as they browsed through it.

The twins were speechless.

"I wish I was as good as him!" Ryou whispered to Kyou.

"I wish I could draw!" Kyou remarked.

James was beginning to feel rather nervous "So...do you...like my drawings?" His facial color tone slowly shaded pink.

"Well I think you're pretty good!" Kyou passed the sketchbook back to James "I don't have much of if any interest in art but these drawings are pretty good!"

Ryou was beginning to feel even more uncomfortable about showing James her drawings.

"Here's a painting I'm working on too!" James muttered as he brought his unfinished painting out of his bag and presented it to the twins.

"You sure are good with detail!" Kyou remarked.

"Y-yeah!" Ryou nodded

"Say James have you ever thought about doing portraits of people?" Kyou grinned at Ryou.

James scratched his head. "Um...I have thought about it but...I don't know..."

"I'd love to see you do a portrait of Ryou!" Kyou laughed under her breath.

"Sis!" Ryou's colour tone was now very dark red.

"Maybe one day!" James shrugged with a grin. "So then Ryou let's see your work!"

Ryou whimpered like an injured puppy. "D-do I...h-have to?" The rate of her breathing suddenly increased.

Kyou gave James a serious look and pointed her finger at him "James I want you to be honest about Ryou's work!"

She suddenly put her ear up to James "But if you're too harsh I'm gonna strangle you with that scarf!" she whispered.

James gulped. "Ok…!" He muttered.

Ryou brought out a tiny notebook and opened it up to one of the pages.

The drawing was of a hairy looking pig like animal.

"So what's that?" James asked with interest.

"I-it's a sketch of our pet Botan..." Ryou blushed "Well she's more Kyou's pet than mine but she lives under the same roof as us so..."

"Yeah, yeah I see your point" James nodded, interrupting her.

Ryou then flicked through another couple pages of sketches she'd done such as a flower on a window ceil and the twins bedroom.

James looked carefully at the three Sketches that Ryou had produced.

"Hmm..." James was trying to be careful how to voice his opinion while Ryou looked at James worriedly and Kyou was getting herself ready to stomp on James's foot.

"Well I will admit your drawing skills need work..." He gave a quick nervous glance at Kyou. "You need help with angles shading and perspective but I do think you have potential!"

Kyou glanced at her sister whose color tone was now very dark red.

"T-thanks for the advice!" She said in almost a whisper.

"Do you think you could help her out?" Kyou asked James.

"Well I still need to learn a lot myself so I don't think I could really be a teacher...but maybe I could help her out with some aspects!" James grinned at Ryou.

"Sure!" Ryou replied blushing.

Kyou laughed under her breath and then stood up from the table.

"Right lets head off to the park!" She instructed.

...

After another ten minutes or more they finally arrived at the park the trees blew steadily in the wind and dogs with their owners ran throughout the park and a few students from the school could be seen walking in small groups of twos and fours.

James sighed as he looked around. "So what's this perfect plan of yours?"

Kyou pushed Ryou next to James and pushed them closer together.

"S-sis!" Ryou exclaimed "W-what are you?..."

Kyou quickly cut her off "You're more confident around James than most guys so I felt like this would make a great practice!" She grinned.

"P-practice for what?!" James exclaimed feeling uncomfortable.

"James I want you and Ryou to walk around the park for a bit!" Kyou slowly began to walk off "Ryou I want you to pretend that James is Okazaki and try and ask him out!"

Both James and Ryou's eyes widened exceptionally large, while their face's began to instantaneously brighten up in red.

"W-what?!" Ryou gasped in shock.

"Have fun!" Kyou laughed as she quickly ran off. "See you at the arcade!"

James and Ryou just stood there silent for a few moments.

"So..." James gulped nervously. "Shall we start walking?"

Ryou blushed nervously. "Ok!"

They slowly began to walk.

James sighed. "So I mph!"

Ryou cut him off as she put her hand over his mouth.

"Don't say anything!" Her voice was starting to sound just as nervous as it had the last time James had seen Ryou interact with Okazaki.

"I'm sorry but I...I just can't go along with that!" She suddenly began crying and covered her eyes with her hands.

James carefully walked Ryou over to an empty bench.

"I'll admit I didn't think it was a good idea in the first place!" James sighed. "Your sister just put us on the spot without even considering us!"

Ryou wiped her eyes with a tissue "D-don't get me wrong I'm...I'm grateful for her help but I just feel like it's something I should be able to do on my own!"

James put his arm around Ryou. "It's Ok...I understand."

Ryou chuckled under her breath. "It's funny!"

"What is?" James asked confused.

"Well we've only know each other for a few days but...you...you kind of feel like a brother to me!" Ryou's face suddenly went very deep in red and so did James. "I don't know why but that's what it feels like to me!" She began to wipe her eyes again.

"Why is your sister so protective of you?" James asked out of the blue.

"It's...kind of personal sorry..." Ryou mumbled

"I see..." James quickly tried changing the subject. "I know it's something that you want to achieve on your own but I think you just need to brush up enough confidence to ask Okazaki out! I mean you act so nervous around him!"

Ryou sighed. "Yeah...but it's difficult...my body start's shaking I can't breathe properly and I stutter so much!" She suddenly sounded like she was becoming flustered and was breathing heavily.

"I know exactly what that feels like!" James remarked as he patted her on the head.

Ryou glared at him "Oh yeah...you told me that you got involved with a girl at your last school right?"

"Correct!" James quickly replied in a rather annoyed mumble.

"Well..." She paused for a moment "Can you please tell me what happened?"

James looked up at the sky and sighed "Well...you see there was this girl and I...I had a crush on her"

He gulped as painful memories came flooding back.

"I tried to talk to her and after a few months I wrote her a letter telling her how I felt about her..."

"A letter?" Ryou questioned.

James chuckled. "Yeah don't do that with Okazaki!" He quickly added in and chuckled again for a few more seconds "She told me that she might be moving schools after Christmas so I wrote her a letter telling her how I felt...I honestly wished she had moved schools..."

Ryou could tell that James felt unconfutable. "If you want to stop you can..."

"When I came back after the Christmas break she was back and at first..." It appeared to Ryou that James hadn't heard what she had just told him and noticed his eye's beginning to look a little watery "I didn't think she had read the letter because she never mentioned it but she kept hanging around me and my friends all the time!"

"She had read it right?" Ryou began rubbing James's arm in comfort.

"Yeah...she told me that I should have told her before she got herself a boyfriend..." James suddenly put his hand over his face clearly trying not to break down crying. "To cut a long story short she broke up with him for me than a week later she broke up with me for another guy..."

"Then what happened?" Ryou muttered.

James couldn't take it anymore...all the bad memories flooding back and he quickly stood up from the bench.

"I'm sorry I can't!" He shouted.

Before James could run away Ryou suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him over to her and hugged him tightly.

"James...don't worry!" She looked at him seriously "She's gone now and you don't have to worry!" It looked to James as if Ryou was now starting to tear up "If anyone...if she were to come here just to hurt you...I'd protect you!" Ryou's face once again became deep in red.

James was completely shocked "T-thanks!" He stuttered as his face became a dark shade of red.

"Like I said!" She exclaimed "You're like a brother to me and brothers and sisters look out for each other!" She grabbed James' hand and they ran off together to find Kyou.

...

Kyou had been waiting patiently outside "Game Land" for James and Ryou to meet up with her.

It was a fairly big arcade the logo stood across the building in big golden letters and crane machines stood across both sides of the entrance and inside thousands of people could be heard laughing and having fun.

"Hopefully my little plan will get Ryou more confident!" Kyou thought to herself.

Ryou and James arrived hand in and hand and stopped to catch their breath.

"So how did it go?" Kyou chuckled

"D-don't-" Ryou gasped clutching her chest. "E-ever d-do t-that a-again!"

Kyou looked at them both in annoyance. "I'm guessing you didn't act it out?!"

"No!" James glared at Kyou. "You should have talked it over first anyway!"

"Sis do you realize how awkward that was!" Ryou shouted "Especially with all the rumors recently!"

James raised an eyebrow. "Rumors?"

"Agh!" Ryou gasped not realizing that she'd said that out loud. "It's nothing...!"

James immediately noticed her face going a dark shade of red and he crossed his arms. "Come on Ryou just tell me!"

"W-well..." The rate of her breathing rapidly increased. "T-there...have been rumors that...you and me are dating!"

James immediately face palmed "Argh!" He groaned "That's just typical idiotic teenagers for you! They see a guy and a girl hanging around a lot and immediately think they are dating! We've only known each other for a few days for Christ sake!"

"Exactly..." Ryou mumbled feeling extremely embarrassed.

Kyou sighed "Ryou I've told you before I'll smack anyone I see talking about those rumors!"

Ryou then turned to her sister with a serious face "Sis can you just stop?!" She shouted accidently surprising both James and Kyou.

"S-stop what?" She asked still shocked.

"I want to ask out Okazaki but I want to do it my way!" She was now forcing herself not to cry "D-don't get me wrong I'm...I'm grateful for your help but I feel like this is something that I have to do alone!"

She cleared her throat and grabbed Kyou's arm "And please just stop threatening to beat people up all the time! You know things like that bring back bad memories for me!"

Kyou just stared at her sister in shock speechless.

James clearly seeing the tension cleared his throat. "S-shall we go inside?"

The three of them entered the arcade which was crammed with teenagers playing various arcade games.

James cleared his throat. "S-so Ryou what do you want to do here?"

Ryou pointed to a game at the end of the room "We'll try that one!" She exclaimed.

"Hmm?" All James could see was a boxed shape black curtain and the words "Holoscope" written across the curtain. In fact it reminded James of one of the ID photo booths that he'd had to use back in England when arranging his passport.

"So what exactly is this thing?" He asked as they began to walk over to it.

"It's a fortune telling game!" Ryou smiled

As they walked towards it James noticed a fair amount of crane machines filled with stuffed toys some of which were ridiculously huge to be able to even grab out of the machine!

He also noticed several different stuffed toys that looked to James to merely be circles and lines but they were all in different colors red green blue and so many others that it made the inside of the cranes look very vibrant.

"I wonder what those things are…?" James thought to himself as they reached the Holoscope game.

As Ryou opened up the curtain James noticed that there was just one seat with enough space for two people only.

"So I guess I'll just watch while you two play this game?" James questioned as his eye's started to hurt from the bright light of the game.

"Actually James you can do this!" Kyou replied unenthusiastically "I'm really not good at games like this."

"Don't worry James I'll show you what to do!" Ryou smiled as she sat on one side of the seat trying to make sure there was enough room for James to sit.

"Alright" James mumbled in reply as he sat next to Ryou.

"Well" James exclaimed as he rubbed his hands "Let's get this thing started!"

Ryou inserted a few coins into the games coin slot and the screen turned bright white and James quickly covered his eyes.

"Jesus Christ..." He mumbled as he rubbed his now sore eyes as he began to see colors flickering around everywhere.

The games logo suddenly appeared and within seconds had gone being replaced with a glowing ball with angel wings around it while text scrolled the bottom of the screen.

"Ok so what exactly do we do?" James asked as he glanced at the complicated set of controls which was just one tracker ball and a dozen or so buttons.

"Just move the tracker ball around then press an icon and enter your name." Ryou explained.

James put his hand on the ball which felt loose and the icons on the screen quickly changed. "Damn these controls are a bit slippery!"

He pressed down on the tracker ball and the standard Japanese alphabetic symbols appeared on the screen.

"Do you want me to spell your name for you?" Ryou glanced.

James chucked. "Yeah thanks! I'm still not used to writing my name in Japanese symbols!"

Within two or three minutes Ryou had entered James's name onto the screen.

"Right now it's my turn!" She mumbled as she gave the screen a serious look and repeated what James had done.

The screen flashed and the ball icon changed color.

"What's are relationship?" Ryou mumbled

"Well we're just friends" James blushed.

James suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder "James put your hand on the tracker ball with Ryou!"

Sis!" Ryou exclaimed "He doesn't have to..."

"It says you're supposed to put your hands together at this part!" Kyou chuckled slightly.

"Alright then..." James replied as he put his hand over Ryou's on the tracker ball.

"Sorry about this..." Ryou blushed. "Ok so now we just move the ball around again..."

They moved the ball around a few more times and the icon changed again becoming green in color.

The text underneath read " _Friends_ " and a piece of paper suddenly printed from the side of the machine.

"Well what does the fortune say Ryou?" Kyou asked as they stepped out from the curtain.

"What did I just play?" James thought to himself.

Whatever the game was, it still made little sense to him...

Ryou looked at the page and began to read:

 _"A kind female and a male with a strong sense of responsibility._

 _"You will be very compatible friends however weather it develops beyond this is up to each individual!"_

"Sounds rather generic to me." Kyou remarked.

"Well I think it's rather sweet" James replied.

"Yeah." Ryou blushed slightly

"So where do we go now?" James suddenly realized that he'd been hanging out with the twins for almost two hours now but felt like he was having a great time.

"Well we can get your new phone!" Kyou replied as she began to walk out of the arcade.

"I suppose we could do your homework after that?" Ryou glanced at James.

James suddenly gasped and put his hand over his mouth forcing himself not to swear out loud.

"What is it?" Ryou looked at James worriedly.

James removed his hand "I completely forgot to bring my homework with me!" James face palmed himself hard.

"D-don't worry!" Ryou exclaimed "We could go back to your house and do the homework there!"

"What about dinner?" Kyou questioned.

"Well you've both been so nice to me so I could cook you both something!"

The twins were both rather surprised.

"You can cook?" Kyou remarked

"Yeah but I'm not that good...I guess mum could help me out"

"You don't have to cook for us James!" Ryou smiled blushing slightly.

"No I think it's the least I can do!" James grinned.

As James was leaving the arcade he noticed a guitar game.

He could see someone playing on a shark shaped guitar and it was clear to James that this person was doing the moves all wrong.

James couldn't see the face as he was seeing the guy from the back but he had blond hair a pink shirt and light blue jeans.

An image suddenly clicked in James' mind. "Hey Ryou isn't that one of the guys from our class?"

Ryou looked over to where James was pointing.

"Like wasn't his name Sunogra or something?"

Ryou chuckled "That's Youhei Sunohara! And yes he's in our class!"

James gave another look at Sunohara. "Do you think we should talk to him?"

"If you want…" Ryou muttered.

Suddenly both James and Ryou felt a tug on the back of their clothes and were suddenly behing dragged away.

They both turned their heads and it was Kyou.

"No I'd rather not socialize with idiots!"

They couldn't see it but Kyou was grinning to herself at that last comment.

...

James was in deep thought. His mind kept thinking up various possibilities of what would happen when James's mum met the twins.

"I'm sure she'll be fine with them!" he thought "I mean it's not like we're dating!"

 **Whack!**

"Ow!" James groaned as he rubbed his sore forehead.

He'd been thinking so hard that he hadn't realized that he had been walking straight into a lamp post!

Ryou quickly rushed over to James's side "Are you alright?" She shrieked.

James rubbed his forehead. "Yeah!"

"Let me see." Ryou mumbled as she removed James hand and she immediately noticed a small red mark.

"Looks like you've got a slight bruise!" She murmured worriedly.

Kyou chuckled. "Even I didn't see that coming!"

"Oh shut up Kyou!" James moaned as he noticed people passing by were laughing too.

Ryou looked at James worriedly "Shall we just buy the phone and go?"

"Good idea!" James and Kyou exclaimed at the exact same time and suddenly began laughing at each other.

Ryou smiled and started chuckling too "I'm so glad they're getting along!"

After that the trio soon found the phone shop.

The logo read " __" in Japanese text the building was square shaped with blackened windows and they found it rather cramped inside as they entered the store which only had a few people looking around.

"Welcome!" Shouted the shop keeper with a toothless grin.

"So you just want a phone for texting and making calls right?" Kyou said to James as she browsed through the various phones on display.

"Yeah I'm really not too bothered about using the internet and playing mobile games."

Kyou laughed. "Oh my god you sound like some middle aged guy!"

"Don't remind me!" James laughed. He'd often been told by people back home that acted like an older guy...

Ryou was browsing when she spotted a small ocean blue colored phone with tiny buttons and fairly large screen.

"How about this one?" She smiled as she passed it over to James.

"Hmm..." James examined the phone "Well it's a simple make..."

"And according to the information on the wall it doesn't use the internet" Kyou interrupted.

"Well I guess this is the one I'll go for!"

"Ok let's just pay and go!" Ryou mumbled worriedly as it looked as though the shop keeper was eying her up...

The trio paid for the phone and left the store minutes later.

"Well it's off to my place then!" James exclaimed as he looked at his new phone.

"We'll help you sort everything out with it too!" Ryou smiled.

"So James are your parents going to be in?" Kyou asked as she glanced at him.

"Well mum doesn't have a job so she most likely will."

"Does your father have a job?" Kyou raised an eyebrow.

James immediately stopped in his tracks "He doesn't live with us and...and I'd rather not talk about it..."

Noticing James's behavior Ryou was immediately concerned. He'd been like this when they had spoken about his crush from his last school.

Now that he mentioned it Ryou realised that James had never mentioned his father before he had only ever mentioned his mother.

"W-well...if you're not comfortable taking about it we won't ask!" Ryou assured him.

As they began to walk again Kyou gasped in shock surprising both James and Ryou.

"A-are you alright?" he stuttered.

Kyou laughed. "There's a photo booth here!" She then looked at James and Ryou and grinned grabbing them by their collars and dragging them into the booth.

"K-kyou what are you doing?!" James shouted.

"Well I thought it would be great to take a photo of the three of us!"

Ryou overcoming the shock of the moment smiled "Yes that sounds like a nice idea!"

Kyou inserted some coins into the machine and searched through the options on the touchscreen.

"Ok I've set it too print out two photos so there's one for you James and one for us!" Kyou chuckled.

James smiled. "That sounds really nice Kyou! I think this is a great way to remember moments like this after all they do say pictures are forever!"

He put his arms around the twins and the twins put their arms around James.

"Ok!" Ryou muttered pressing the controls "3…2...1..."

There was a flash and the pictures began to print out.

James and Ryou stepped outside the photo both and Kyou followed quickly after handing James the other photograph.

James chuckled "You know...I've really had a great time today!" James grinned as he looked at the photo.

"I have too!" Ryou blushed as she rubbed her arm.

Kyou sighed. "I'm glad James because..."

James raised an eyebrow. "Because what?"

"Well I don't know if Ryou ever told you but I completely misjudged you!" Her face became bright red from embarrassment.

"I...I thought you were some kind of pervert because of how when we met you didn't look at us in the face and kept your eyes on the ground..."

"You thought I was staring at your breasts right?" James sighed and Ryou glanced at James worriedly at how he was reacting.

"Yes." She continued "And that was wrong of me! I...I said things that I shouldn't have! Both to you and Ryou and I'm really sorry! I wanted to get to know you better so I thought this day out would be the best opportunity so..."

Kyou's eyes were suddenly filled with tears and she hugged James tightly.

"Sis!" Ryou gasped

"If..." Kyou chocked on her tears "If you can forgive me I hope...that we can be good friends!"

James couldn't believe what was happening. It seemed so out of character of Kyou who was normally the tough one of the twins to suddenly break down crying like this.

He put his arms around Kyou hugging her gently.

"Kyou...as far as I am concerned we're already good friends!" James smiled.

...

They had finally reached the flat. The twins stared at the enormously tall building in awe.

"Are we walking to your area or is there an elevator?" Kyou asked thinking of how tiring it would be if they had to climb a large amount of stairs.

"Yeah we have to walk sorry but don't worry it's not too far!" James assured them.

"Ugh!" Kyou put her hands over her face in annoyance.

"I'm looking forward to meeting your mother!" Ryou smiled "I'm sure you've told her about us after all..."

James removed his flat cap and scratched his head laughing slightly "Um...actually I've never really told mum about anyone from the school!"

"Oh." Ryou mumbled.

"Like I've told her that I hang out with a few people but I haven't really gone into details!"

James chuckled nervously as they entered the flat and began to climb the stairs.

"Oh Jesus imagine how mum's gonna react when she sees that I've brought two girls over!" James exclaimed worriedly.

"Don't worry!" Kyou grinned. "I'll just say that we're your two girlfriends!"

"Sis don't do that!" Ryou gasped "W-what if she gets the wrong idea?"

James covered his face in embarrassment. "Please Kyou don't say anything suggestive!"

Kyou gave them both an annoyed look. "Gee relax I was just kidding!"

"I'm sure your mother will be fine with us James don't worry about it!" She assured him as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

They both glanced at each other and smiled.

"I think your right!" James laughed. "Heck I probably am worrying too much!"

"So James what are you planning to cook for us?" Kyou asked exhausted as they reached another flight of stairs.

"Well..." James rubbed his chin thinking...

He actually had no idea what he was going to cook for the twins!

"Have either of you...ever tried fajitas?"

"That's a Mexican food right?" Ryou asked.

"Yeah we have a BBQ flavored one in the cupboard that I could cook up for you both!" James gave the twins a thumbs up.

"Sure!" they replied with a thumbs up.

After a few minutes they reached the door.

James gave a brief of relief as they finally finished walking through the long flight of stairs.

He put his hand onto the door handle and then stopped. "No I'd better knock! It'd be awkward if while I'm in the kitchen mum walks in on Kyou and Ryou thinking that they've broken in or something!" James's mind immediately began to fill up with various scenarios on what could occur.

He took another sigh of relief as he cleared his mind. "I wonder what it would be like if I brought Kotomi over?" James suddenly snapped back into reality. "God why do I still keep thinking about her?!" James groaned as he tugged on the hair on his forehead.

"Um?" The twins stared at James blankly at what had just happened.

He slowly turned his head over to them with his face bright pink with embarrassment "Um…haha..." He gave an awkward smile "D-did I say that last part out loud?" He asked as his voice suddenly felt shaky.

"Um hmm" The twins both nodded in response.

James's face suddenly became an even darker shade of red. "F-forget what just happened please..."

He turned his attention back towards the door as he knocked four times and then pulled the doorknob opening the inside of the flat.

"Mum I'm home!" He shouted as he entered the flat. "I've brought a couple friends over too!"

He then gestured his hand towards the twins. "Come inside!"

Kyou sighed with a slight smirk as she entered the flat.

Ryou felt extremely worried about James. "He...he wasn't thinking about that girl was he?" She thought to herself as she entered the flat and removed her shoes as James and Kyou had done.

James quickly stepped into the kitchen picked up a kettle filled it with water and began to boil it "I'll just make some tea first!" James shouted through the room as the twins sat down on the sofa.

They both turned their heads looking around the room "He sure lives in a nice place!" Kyou remarked.

"Yeah it's so nice in here!" Ryou replied in amazement.

Kyou picked up the remote control and turned on the TV.

The screen lit up and some game show was playing on a random channel.

Kyou put her hands behind her head as she got comfortable on the sofa "I guess we'll just watch this while we wait for our dinner..."

Kyou glanced at her sister and immediately noticed her glaring at the floor worridly.

Kyou placed her hand on Ryou's shoulder. "Shh don't worry!" Kyou whispered to her sister in comfort. "James's mum will be fine with us!"

"I-it's not that at all!" Ryou whimpered as her voice became shaky and flustered.

Kyou raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"

Ryou turned her head facing Kyou. "It's something else!" She exclaimed "I'll...I'll tell you and James later!" Ryou looked back at the floor as she rubbed her arm gently.

Kyou removed her hand from Ryou's shoulder and turned her attention back to the TV. "Hope you're okay Ryou!" She thought to herself worriedly, letting out a sigh.

James entered the room holding two hot cups of tea.

He carefully placed them onto the table and blew lightly on the cups as steam was coming from the hot drinks.

"Well I hope you girls like the way I make tea!" He laughed nervously. "Two sugars and rather milky!"

He then removed his scarf and placed it on the back of one of the other chairs.

"Thanks!" The twins smiled and nodded.

"Uh...James?" Ryou cleared her throat.

"Yeah?" James glaced as he was about to walk back into the kitchen.

"W-when dinners over shall we start on your homework?" She asked nervously as she played with her hair.

"Of course." James shrugged.

They all suddenly heard a door creek open and James's mum stepped into view looking rather tired and unwell.

"Oh hello mum!" James greeted her nervously "I-I came back a bit earlier to treat my friends here to some dinner!" he gave a nervous grin.

The twins noticing James's nervousness quickly stood up and bowed "Hello !" Kyou spoke up "I'm Kyou Fujibayashi and this is my sister Ryou!"

Ryou blushed giving a nervous wave. "H-hello!"

James nervously waited for his mother to say something. This had been the first time that he had brought any girls to where he had lived in his lifetime as with previous friendship's he'd only ever hung around guy's and been extremely nervous around women.

Victoria turned her head to James and grinned "You didn't mention that you were having a day out with two girls James!" She laughed as she could see James becoming red in the face.

"N-no mum!" He laughed nervously "I-it's not like that!" He laughed nervously again.

Victoria then turned her attention to the twins. "So which one of you is his girlfriend?"

"W-what?" Both the twins gasped in response as they turned a very dark shade of red.

Victoria laughed. "I'm just joking around!" She then sat down on an empty chair near the sofa "It's just nice to know that my son has already made a few friends!"

"W-we're very glad to have met him!" Kyou stuttered still blushing.

"Anyway." James quickly tried changing the subject. "I'm making dinner for them since they've done a lot for me today!"

"Oh?" Victoria glanced at James.

"Kyou treated us for lunch then we went to the arcade and then helped me buy a new phone!" James brought out his brand new phone from his pocket and passed it to his mum.

Victoria examined the phone and placed it onto the table. "Well that was very kind of you Kyou!" Victoria exclaimed placing her hand on Ryou's shoulder.

Ryou laughed nervously. "No I'm Ryou!"

"I'm Kyou!" Kyou tried her best not to laugh out loud.

"Oh I'm sorry!" Victoria apologized.

"No, no it's fine!" Kyou assured her

"Something like that hasn't happened in years!" Kyou thought to herself.

"Anyway I'll get the cooking started!" James quickly ran into the kitchen.

"What are you cooking?" Victoria shouted through the room.

"BBQ Fajitas!" James replied shouting as he got out a piece of raw chicken from the fridge and began to cut it up with a knife on a chopping board he'd placed on the surface.

"Do you want to join us ?" Ryou asked.

"No its fine." She chuckled slightly "You kid's don't want me ruining your fun!"

Ryou examined James's mum " are you unwell?"

Kyou glanced at Ryou.

"Just a bit luv!" She chuckled "I've been a bit under the weather lately if I'm honest!"

"I see..." Ryou mumbled thinking that what Victoria had said wasn't quite true...

"So how did you two meet my son?" Victoria asked quickly changing the subject "Are you in his class?"

"Well I'm the class representative!" Ryou explained "One of our teachers had me look after James on his first day since he's in my class. We just kind of became friends instantly I guess."

"And I briefly met James on his first day too!" Kyou explained "We're in different classes but we talked briefly..."

Flashbacks of some of the things that she had done or said to James came into her head sending chills of regret down her spine.

"But today was really my first opportunity to really get to know James!"

"And so the first thing you do is treat him to lunch and buy him a phone?" Victoria glanced at Kyou with a slight frown.

Kyou gave a nervous laugh under her breath "It's complicated..." She mumbled to herself.

" **Ah shit shit!"** They all heard James shout from the kitchen.

Everyone quickly ran into the kitchen.

"What happened?!" Victoria shouted

"Are you ok James?" Ryou asked worridly.

James was struggling to remove a piece of chicken that had gotten stuck on the burning oil on the frying pan. "Yeah sorry!" He groaned "Bit of oil spat out and got my arm it's nothing really!"

Victoria sighed "You silly boy..." She mumbled as she put her hand over her face.

"Be careful James..." Ryou mumbled to herself as all three of them went back into the front room.

Kyou and Ryou sat down on the couch and Victoria made her way towards the bedroom. "Girls I'm going back to bed so please make sure James doesn't have an accident..." She looked at them worriedly.

"Yes !" They nodded as Victoria entered her bedroom and shut the door.

"She sure seems cautious with you." Ryou remarked.

"Well from what I've seen of James he's a lot like you! Kyou sighed "Very shy and a lack of confidence!"

Ryou looked at the floor saddened.

Kyou glanced at her sister and put her arm around her "I wasn't trying to sound rude Ryou" She whispered gently in her sister's ear.

"It's fine..." Ryou replied in an upset tone.

Kyou sighed. "Do you think there's something wrong with James' mum?" She asked worriedly.

"Well..."Ryou sighed "She looks rather ill and I have a feeling that there could be more to it than she is letting on..." Ryou took a deep breath "I'm wondering if I should ask James about it but it's none of my business and I don't want to worry him!"

Kyou hugged her sister tightly. "If you think somethings wrong just ask him!" Kyou looked at her seriously. "James doesn't seem to be the type of guy to just flat out yell at people for asking questions."

Ryou glanced at the kitchen door. "Yeah..."

...

The twins wait patiently for their dinner to arrive as they watched a few programs on the television while occasionally asking James if he needed any help.

After almost an hour James came into the front room carrying a plate with 8 wraps placed onto it.

"Ow hot hot!" James groaned as he hurriedly placed the hot plate onto the table and blew onto his hands "Give me a minute!" He shouted as he ran back into the kitchen.

A minute later James returned carrying a plastic tray holding three bowls and three stainless steel spoons.

The smell of BBQ sauce filled the room quickly as the bowls steamed from the heat of the frying pan.

"Thanks James!" Ryou stood up and bowed before returning to her seat.

"We'll just give the food a few minutes to cool down!" James sighed as he sat down on the empty chair where he'd placed his scarf. "So mum seems fine with you both!"

He chuckled under his breath "Sorry about her embarrassing behavior though!"

Ryou gave a nervous whimper as she still had James's mum on her mind.

Kyou smiled. "It's fine!" Kyou laughed. "Our mother is kind of like that too!"

Ryou chuckled slightly as she carefully grabbed one of the piping hot wraps placing it onto a plate.

"M-mind if I start?" She asked nervously.

"Sure" James shrugged.

Ryou grabbed her spoon and carefully placed it into her bowl. The steam whooshed as the food was moved around as she brought out a couple pieces of chicken and placed them onto the wraps. She wrapped up the wrap she took a few bites and swallowed.

James waited in anticipation. "W-well?"

Ryou's entire face suddenly turned deep red but this time she wasnt blushing.

She suddenly put both her hands around her throat and began coughing.

James and Kyou quickly stood up to help her "Ryou are you ok?!" James shouted as Kyou slapped Ryou's back several times "What's the matter are you choking?!" Kyou asked as she was now starting to panic.

"W-" Ryou coughed loudly "Water!"

James immediately ran into the kitchen "Stay calm girls!" He shouted through the kitchen as he quickly turned the tap, filling a glass cup with water.

He ran back into the front room and passed it to Ryou. "Here!"

She quickly grabbed the water and had gulped down the entire glass within seconds.

She slammed the glass down with a loud clank as it hit the table and she held onto her throat gasping for breath.

"Ryou are you ok?!" Kyou asked as she grabbed her sister's shoulders.

"I..." she took a deep breath "I'm fine!" she giggled slightly "It's just there was a lot of pepper in that!"

"Hmm?" Kyou glanced at her own untouched bowl and paced her finger into the sauce placing her finger into her mouth tasting it.

Kyou coughed slightly and put her hand on her throat. "Jesus how much pepper did you put in that?!"

"Oh my god I'm really sorry!" He felt a horrible tingling feeling in his stomach and he moved around uncomfortably "I just...tend to put a lot of ground pepper into the fajitas..."

"Ugh!" Kyou sighed "Ok next time don't add in pepper Ok?"

"Sure" James mumbled sadly.

"W-well..." James cleared his throat "If you don't like it I can see if I can cook up something else"

"No it's fine!" Ryou waved her arms in panic. She didn't want to hurt James's feelings after all "It...was just a bit of a surprise with how spicy it was!"

Kyou glanced at her sister in annoyance "I swear you'll be the death of me little sister!" She thought in her head as Ryou noticed her older sisters glance and gave her a nervous look.

Kyou sat down and took a deep breath. She grabbed a wrap and took a small chunk of chicken with her spoon while trying to avoid having a large amount of sauce onto the spoon she then placed it onto the wrap wrapped it up and took a bite.

James slowly began walk into the kitchen. "I'll get you a glass of water too!"

Kyou coughed for a few seconds and took a deep breath "Well...although you added waaaaaaaaaaaay too much pepper this actually tastes fine!" She then took another bite as James came into the room with another glass of water. "Thanks!" he smiled.

...

The trio sat exhausted full up and tired after all the eating.

"Ugh!" James groaned holding his stomach as he stood up "I think I cut up too much chicken!"

"Yeah." The twins groaned.

"I'll do the washing up" Mumbled as he carfully picked up all the plates and cutlery.

"When that's done shall we do your homework?" Ryou groaned clutching her stomach.

"Sure!" James shouted through the kitchen.

...

After all the cleaning was done James brought out his homework. Surprisingly for James the work actually wasn't too difficult as Ryou explain what he had to do and in no time flat the work was at last complete!

James put his head back on the sofa and took a deep breath "Honestly I don't know how to thank you enough Ryou! Seriously you are a life saver!"

Ryou chuckled as she blushed. "It's fine!"

Kyou smirked to herself as she checked her watch. "Well it looks like we'd better get going!" She exclaimed as she stood up from the sofa "Thanks for today though James it's really been a lot of fun!"

"W-well..." James chuckled "It was your idea to have a day in town with the two of your so I really should be thanking you!"

He put out his hand towards Kyou for her to shake his hand.

Kyou laughed as she shook his hand.

Suddenly an idea came into her mind "Oh!" She gasped. "Do you have any paper?"

"Yeah...how come?" James questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Well you're going to want our number's on your new phone um..." She paused for a moment turning her head to Ryou. "He has your number right?"

"Yes!" Ryou blushed.

James passed James a sheet of paper "here!"

Kyou took the paper writing down her number quickly "Here you go!" she exclaimed as she passed the sheet back to James.

"Thanks!" James replied as he read the number on the paper " _01978146128"_

"Well I'll text you both later letting you know it's me!" he grinned.

"Before we go." Ryou mumbled "Do you want me to read your fortune? For tomorrow I mean?"

"Alright" James shrugged.

Ryou brought out her pack of cards and showed them to James.

"Ok pick three cards!" She instructed.

James took three cards from the deck. Ryou placed the deck back into her pocket and brought her hand towards James. "Now show them to me!"

James passed the cards as Ryou examined them.

She remained silent for a few moments.

Kyou glanced worridly at her sister "Ryou?"

Ryou looked at Kyou with a worried look on her face "Um..."

James could tell that something was troubling Ryou. "Are you alright?"

"T-t-the c-cards..." Her arms began shaking slightly.

Ryou cleared her throat. "The cards say...that...tomorrow for the time being you will lose someone important to you!"

Ryou looked at James with a horrified look James gasped in shock and covered his mouth "mum!" He mumbled in a muffled voice.

"Are you sure that's right?!" Kyou asked worriedly.

"W-well..." Ryou gulped. "Fortune telling can sometimes be inaccurate...even if you get a negative reading depending on how much you and the people around you try it's possible to change the future!"

"Hmm…" Kyou mumbled. "That still doesn't answer the question..."

"Look I'm sorry!" Ryou shouted trying not to cry. "I'm just telling you what the cards say!"

James sat back down on the chair and put his hand over his face. "Its fine!" He groaned as he took a deep breath "Well...I guess I'll see you both tomorrow…"

The twins looked at James worriedly. "Um...do you mind if we ask something about your mother?" Kyou asked softly.

James removed his hand and glanced at the twins "What?"

"Well…" Ryou spoke up. "Is your mum ill?" She took a deep breath "I...I don't want to sound nosey but I noticed that she looks really unwell..."

James put his hand towards the twins "Don't worry its fine!" he took a deep breath "Well...a few others have asked too and...Well mum's been unwell a lot for the past year or more but I think there's something more to it..." His voice started to sound shaky as he was becoming upset.

Kyou put her hand on James's shoulder "Don't worry James" She whispered softly to him in comfort "I'm sure your mum will be fine!"

Ryou suddenly began to cry and put her hands over her eyes. "I'm so sorry James!" She cried "If I hadn't-"

"Stop blaming yourself!" Kyou shouted

Ryou stepped back away from her sister. "S-sorry!"

"Please...don't start arguing..." He ran his hand through his face and took a deep breath. "So any plans for school tomorrow?"

Kyou sighed sensing James wanted to change the subject. "Not really no..." She mumbled not entirely sure what to talk about.

"Well..." Ryou gulped "I've decided tomorrow that..." She took a few deep breaths and rubbed her arm.

"James and Kyou both looked at Ryou with anticipation for she had to say...

"I'm going to ask out Okazaki!" She shouted slightly louder than she meant to.

Kyou gasped in shock "You're really going to..."

"Yes!" Ryou exclaimed blushing.

"Well I wish you good luck!" James smiled.

"Well..." Kyou was speechless "I...I guess we'll be going now..." Her voice became almost a whisper by the end of the sentence.

"Yeah." Ryou nodded "See you tomorrow James!" She gave a small wave while still blushing.

"Same to you!" He stood up and walked to the door. "I hope asking out Okazaki goes well!"

As the twins walked through the front door and James slowly shut it he walked back to the sofa and lied down like he would a bed and put his hand over his face.

He took a deep breath "I hope you'll be ok mum!" He groaned with Ryou's fortune still on his mind.

" _ **Tomorrow for the time being you will lose someone important to you**_ "

 **To be continued...**

 _ **Authors note:**_

 _ **First off I want to appologize with how long it has taken for this chapter to be uplaoded!**_

 _ **It's been like a month or two since the last chapter was uplaoded but due to a large amount of college work as well as just life itself I've just been too busy to write.**_

 _ **Chapter 10 is halfway done as I write this and will not be as long as this chapter also be prepared for the feels when reading chapter 10!**_

 _ **Thanks to**_ _ **BuffaloSoldia115 for helping me edit this chapter as well as chapter 8 which I totally forgot to credit him for.**_

 _ **Please check out his Clannad fanfiction "A shadows Journal"**_


	11. Chapter 10: Preparation

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 10: Preparation**

James sat in his bedroom lying on the bed staring at the ceiling an hour or more had passed since the Fujibayashi sisters had left and Ryou's fortune was still burned into his mind.

" _ **Tomorrow for the time being you will lose someone important to you.**_ "

Ryou's word's kept repeating themselves in his head over and over again! It was like a recording on constant repeat that just wouldn't stop!

"Argh!" James groaned in frustration as he banged his head onto the soft surface of the pillow before removing it from his head and burying his face on top of it.

"It's...it's got to be mum hasn't it?" He thought to himself. "I mean...is there really anyone here yet that's important to me..."

James then turned his head staring at the photograph that the three of them had taken just hours before which he'd now placed on the wall.

Another quote from Ryou came into his mind...

" _ **You're...you're like a brother to me!**_ "

"T-that's...the first time anyone...let alone a girl...Has said that to me..." He mumbled to himself.

As James thought more and more about Ryou's quote he couldnt help but feel like in a way Ryou was like a sister he never had! After all they had a lot in common: both two very shy individuals with hardly any confidence but from day one Ryou had been there for James and they had quickly become best friends...

"She really means a lot to me..." He mumbled again.

He threw the pillow to the wall. As it bounced off and hit the floor James slowly got up to retrieve his laptop case.

He opened up the case and switched on the computer.

The screen shined brightly but thankfully James already had the bedroom light on so the laptops brightness wouldn't affect him...the fortune telling game had already done that enough.

James waited patiently for everything to load up before he checked his emails.

After five minutes or more of waiting a notification came up on the corner of the screen.

 **You have received one email!**

"Hmm?" James wondered who could have emailed him thinking that it could be one of those junk emails that he'd get on occasion.

The screen turned white and all his emails came into view.

He skimmed through the long list of emails and saw that the new email was a reply to the message he'd sent his old friend Mark just the day before.

James facepalmed himself lightly and chuckled. "I completely forgot that he'd emailed me!"

James moved the curser clicked on the unread email.

James slowly began to read.

 _ **"Hey James!"**_

 _ **"Glad to know that things are (sort of) going well over in Japan!"**_

 _ **"Hopefully if I can (although it is unlikely) I can visit you during the next holiday off although don't quote me on that!"**_

 _ **"So these friends you've made what are they like? I'm guessing from the names that they are all girls' right? :P "**_

 _ **"Talk again soon!"**_

 _ **"From Mark!"**_

James laughed out loud "I bet he thinks I'm some kind of player over here! If only ha!"

He glared at the keyboard wondering what to actually write.

James slowly began to write as the words formed in his mind:

 _ **"Lol! Okay first off just because all my friends happen to be girl's doesn't mean I am starting to become some kind of player! :P "**_  
 _ **"To answer your question though...well.. Ryou is pretty much my best friend. She's really shy but once you get to know her really comes out of her shell...kind of like me in a way!**_

 _ **"In fact that's why me and her get along so well I think because we are two very similar people!"**_

 _ **"It's weird 'cause today she said that I was like a brother to her!"**_

James blushed as he typed that last sentence...

 _ **"She asked about some of the stuff with "The one who shall not be named" since I had briefly spoken to her about it."**_

 _ **"She said that if "you know who" where to come over here she would protect me because brothers and sisters look out for each other!"**_

 _ **"I know it kind of sounds weird but it seems right to me in a way too...to be honest "if you know who" came here I would be deeply worried about Ryou because I care about her a lot and wouldn't want to see her get hurt..."**_

 _ **"As for Kyou...well she is the COMPLETE opposite of her sister! Seriously she is violent aggressive and God knows what else!"**_

 _ **Until today Kyou and I actually didn't get along very well but all three of us went into town and we both agreed that we're now great friends!"**_

 _ **"I'll see if I can attach a photo to this email! We took a photo together in one of those photo booth things so if I can use my webcam to take a picture of the photo I should be able to send the webcam image as an attachment so that you can see what they look like!"**_

James carefully removed the photograph from his wall. He then went into his desktop settings and proceeded to turn on his webcam.

The screen changed and James was now looking at a mirrored image of himself. Due to the rather bad lighting of the bedroom the picture quality appeared rather fuzzy and grainy but you could still see things roughly at least.

James moved to the side out of shot as he put his hand near the camera with the photo. He pressed the icon on the left side of the screen and the laptop made a clicking sound.

After a few seconds James returned to his computer and went into his files.

The photograph was caught in a flash but you could just about see the faces of all three of them.

James sighed. "This will have to do…" He mumbled as he played with his sideburns...

After attaching the photograph to the email James continued to type.

 _ **"I actually had a really fun day in town!"**_

 _ **"We went to the arcade had lunch and I bought a new phone!"**_

 _ **"Only a cheap one though since you know I'm not too fussed about internet on these kinds of things. I'd give you my number but it's probably easier just to keep emailing since I swear I heard you are charged a lot for calling abroad or something..."**_

 _ **"I also cooked dinner for them at the flat which was...honestly a little embarrassing!"**_

James chuckled under his breath as he wrote that last sentence.

 _ **"Now as for Kotomi..."**_

James glared at the keyboard again.

What was he going to say? After all he really didn't know that much about her...he took a deep breath and began to type everything he could think about her.

 _ **"Well I don't really know that much about her...she's really shy and I mean REALLY shy!"**_

 _ **"Sometimes it's hard to start a conversation with her cause she'll be so wrapped up in her own little world to notice anything or anyone around her in fact I've had to refer to her as "Kotomi-Chan" when starting a conversation so that she knows I'm talking to her!."**_

 _ **"She can be rather weird too like in town today I happened to bump into her at a book store. She tried to cut out a page in the store with scissors that she'd brought with her! And when I asked what she'd been doing she told me that she'd be going to all the different bookstores around the town since one in the morning!"**_

 _ **"But honestly as weird as that girl is I'm kind of interested in her...I don't know why hell in fact there is a funny/embarrassing story about how we met but I'll tell you some other time!"**_

 _ **"But she's really cute and has a nice personality but...I keep thinking about her a lot and I don't know why also...she asked if I wanted to eat lunch with her tomorrow!"**_

 _ **"I don't have much to do during breaks so I'll probably join her..."**_

James suddenly realized that he hadn't mentioned Ryou's drawings or Kotomi's apparent mild interest in art.

He put his hand onto his forehead slowly bringing it down away from his face "I'll tell him about that stuff in another email I guess!"

He then wrote his final words: _**"Anyway I'd better be going since I've got work to do!"**_

Then he selected send. The screen turned pure bright white before returning to his backlog of emails with a notification at the top of the screen saying " _ **Email Sent Successfully!"**_

He took another deep breath as he signed out of his email account and shut down the laptop.

Despite the fact it was only seven in the afternoon he'd had a busy day and was now feeling so tired to the point that he just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep no matter what the time was!

...

James woke up early next morning. He had gone to sleep so quickly that it felt as if he had just shut his eyes before opening them to reveal the day time.

He undressed out of his Pajama's and took a shower.

As he ran the shower gel through his hair Ryou's plan to ask out Okazaki suddenly came to mind. "I hope that goes well!" He thought as his eye's starting to sting as the shower gel ran down his face. "It's going take her a lot of confidence to do that and she's so fragile!"

James quickly dressed into his uniform before having a bowl of Weetabix for breakfast he then brushed his teeth and drank a glass of water.

As he prepared to head out of the door he sent a text to Ryou and Kyou telling them that he was on his way when he suddenly heard the sound of his mother's door opening.

He turned around and walked to his mother's door as she slowly stepped out.

"H-hi mum!" He said worriedly.

Victoria's hair was all over the place and her eye's appeared blood shot. "Morning James…" She replied in a tired tone of voice.

"I'm just heading off to school so I'll see you soon!"

As James turned out to walk about to the door he felt Victoria's hand grab his shoulder.

"James..." She cleared her throat as her voice sounded raspy as if she had a sore throat. "I need to ask you something about those two girls from yesterday..."

James turned his head and looked at his mother worriedly. "Yes?"

"Well..." She was now giving James a very serious look "I don't know about the one with the shorter hair but that other girl with the longer hair..."

"Kyou." James interrupted.

"Kyou." Victoria reminded herself. "I think you should watch yourself around that one...don't you think it's odd that she treated you to lunch and bought you a new phone?"

James could tell what his mother was thinking. She had misinterpreted the situation completely.

"M-mum!" James smirked embarrassingly. "S-she's just being nice!"

"Yes but that is being **too** nice!" Victoria raised her voice before covering her mouth and coughing.

"Do you want some water?" James looked at his mother worriedly as Ryou's fortune came into his head once again.

" _ **Tomorrow for the time being you will lose someone important to you.**_ "

Victoria coughed for a few more moments before removing her hand from her mouth. "N-no." She took a few deep breaths. "James you need to get off to school now but..." She looked at her son worriedly…"Just be careful...I don't want people taking advantage of you!"

James nodded. "Don't worry I'll be careful!"

With that James took his leave and left the flat.

James suddenly felt the vibration of his phone in his front pocket.

He took out the phone which read. " _ **You have 1 message from Ryou**_ "

James clicked onto the screen and saw the text which read. " _ **See you at school!"**_

James gave a light chuckle as he placed the phone back inside his pocket as he began the long journey down to the bottom of the flat.

"I'm sure she'll be fine..." James thought as he walked down the first set of stairs "I mean...what's the worst that could happen..."

James as worried as he was couldn't help but admire Ryou for her courage at attempting to ask out the guy that she liked.

James had liked quite a few girls over the years but he'd never had to courage to ask any of them out...except one.

He suddenly felt a shiver down his spine as the girl that used him came into his mind. "I'm sure Okazaki wouldn't use her...would he?"

He didn't know Okazaki that well since the guy barely showed up to class but he (at least from what James had seen) always had a sort of smug attitude around people like he was the sort of guy that you didn't want to cross.

He then remembered on his first day when Sunohara had attempted to take on Tomoyo Sakagami and how all the people watching were terrified of them...particularly Okazaki.

James gulped as he was now starting to worry for Ryou's sake "Maybe...maybe I should have a talk with her..." He thought.

...

He was now halfway to the school. He'd decided not to visit the Furukawa Bakery since he'd already had breakfast and since he was having lunch with Kotomi later didn't need to buy anything for to eat in the afternoon.

"I wonder what the schools meals are like?" James shuddered as the taste of his last schools mashed potatoes came into his mouth which always tasted lumpy and made you want to vomit.

As he looked at the scenery he began to take in his surroundings: The wide open roads the tree's that bookended the left and right side and the bright blue sky...James took a sigh of relief as it was moments like this that made him glad to be alive.

He then thought about where he was going in life how the things that were happening to him at this point in his life would affect him in the future...

 _ **Vrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm**_

James suddenly heard that sound as he came back to reality for a moment and he knew exactly what that sound was and it was getting close!

Instinctively James jumped to the right as the noise became louder as a familiar purple haired girl zoomed past as James landed flat on the ground hitting his shoulder hard onto the pavement. "Argh crap not again!" He groaned as he clutched his shoulder slowly getting up and regaining balance.

As James brushed himself off he heard a _**thwack**_ sound up ahead and he suddenly saw someone fly into mid-air before hitting the ground again!

James looked up ahead in horror as he ran to the scene. "Y-you serious?!" James gasped. "She actually hit someone!"

"Sorry take my apologies instead!" He heard Kyou shout to the person lying on the ground as the sound of the exhaust hummed and she quickly sped away in the blink of an eye.

"S-she...seriously left him like that..." James mumbled trying not to act speechless at what he has just witnessed.

James gulped as he approached the unconscious guy on the ground.

"Hey...are you Ok?" James asked as he crouched down and put his hand on the guys shoulder.

The guy appeared to be breathing much to James's relief.

The guy didn't answer so James carefully shook him to try and get the guy to regain consciousness.

"I swear Kyou is gonna get into a hell of a lot of trouble if she keeps this up!" He swore under his breath.

"Are you alright?" He shouted. "Say something!"

James carefully shook the guy's shoulders again when he suddenly felt a twitch.

"Hmm?"

James shook the guy's shoulders again.

The guy suddenly opened his eyes and like a lightning bolt stood up accidently knocking James head first into the pavement with a loud smack.

"Argh!" James groaned as he felt dizzy and slowly tried to regain his balence as he stood up again.

" _ **Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!**_ " The guy screamed

"Ugh!" James shrieked as he stepped back trying not to fall over again.

"What the...?" The guy gulped "What was that just now?!"

"James grinned trying not to laugh at the situation "Well at least you're alive!" he mumbled.

"All of a sudden I felt something like a _thump_ followed by a _roll roll_ and then immediately a slide or something..." The guy shouted clearly sounding shaken up by the whole situation although James couldn't exactly blame him for being so freaked out.

"Um..." James cleared his throat. "You were...you were hit by a bike..." he explained looking at the guy nervously.

The guy gave James an odd look. "A bike?"

Now that James got a better look he honestly wasn't sure if this was actually a guy or a girl.

He or perhaps she had short blond hair a feminine looking face brown eyes and wore a green jacket which judging by the chest area seemed like it could be a touchy topic to discuss.

The guy or girl sighed chuckling slightly. "Ah again!"

James looked at the person in disbelief. "A-again?!" He choked.

"Something like this happens every once in a while!" The person replied smiling.

"He must have hit his head way too many times to be able to find something like that amusing." James thought.

"If it were a car it's be a problem but since it's a bike again that's better." He chuckled

James removed his flat cap and scratched this head. "Better huh?" James chuckled trying to decide whether or not this person was an idiot or something. "You flew into the sky though? You sure you didn't break anything?"

The person gave James a confused look. "Eh? I don't think I'm hurt anywhere in particular..."

"I see..." James mumbled under his breath "I guess that's fine..."

"Umm by the way what's the time?" The person asked.

James brought out his phone from his pocket and checked the screen "It's almost 9:00am"

"Ughhhhh!" The person shrieked as James stepped back in fright.

"Not good I'm going be late for my job interview!" The guy screamed as he suddenly ran off into the distance.

James tried to grasp the situation of what had just occurred. "There sure are a ton of weird people in this town..."

James shrugged it off as he began to continue his journey to school.

As he took the first step he heard a soft crunch sound on the floor "Hmm?" he looked to the ground and saw that he was standing on a white envelope.

"Did he...or she drop this?" James thought as he picked up the envelope and examined it.

In red letters in the corner of the envelope were the words "resume"

"This must have been for the job interviewed they mentioned!" James looked at the envelope worriedly as not having this would mean that he or she wouldn't be able to have their interview at all.

James placed the envelope into his bag as it was too late to try and give this person their letter back.

"Actually..." James thought as he placed his hand bag inside the back to retrieve the envelope "If I can find an address I could just post it back to him or her!"

"I just hope I don't end up being late for school!" He thought as he took another look at the envelope and carefully opened it up.

As he brought out the letter inside he saw the handwriting which was rather untidy "Now let's see..."

As he looked on the letter which read:

 _ **Name: Blank.**_

 _ **Age: Blank.**_

 _ **The address was blank too.**_

 _ **Telephone number: Blank.**_

Academics work experience all blank there was no writing at all.

"What?" He mumbled as he turned the letter over to see if there was anything written on the back.

"Ah ha now we're getting somewhere!" he exclaimed as he noticed some untidy writing on the other side.

 _ **Strongest subject: Lunch.**_

 _ **Weakest subject: Homeroom.**_

 _ **Objective: I want money.**_

 _ **Hobbies: Telling people stuff they don't know.**_

 _ **Current Health: I'll sue for sexual harassment.**_

"I guess this _**is**_ a guy's writing?" He thought judging by the untidiness of it. "I have no idea what the hell he means by these let alone the writings really bad..."

The letters were different sizes crackled up and hard to read in places "Well it looks like I can't take this to any address can I?" James thought as he folded up the letter placing it back into the envelope and placing it into his bag.

...

In no time at all James arrived at the school walking through the path where the cherry blossoms bloomed.

James took a deep breath as the tree's petals blew around him "Wonderful!" He remarked.

A handful of students walks alongside him chatting away about the usual teenage gossip such as relationships hating school and homework.

"Isn't that the foreign guy?" One student whispered pointing at James which immediately caught his attention.

"Just ignore them." James thought trying not to freeze up.

James tried discreetly to walk faster in order to not be the subject of gossip.

A small group of students out of James's hearing were gossiping about him as he walked up the hill.

"Isn't he the guy dating Fujibayashi?"

"Which one?"

"Ryou Fujibayashi!"

"I saw them hugging in the park yesterday!"

"Those two are totally an item!"

"But she says they aren't dating?"

"They probably want to keep it secret or something!"

...

Ryou waited patiently at the top of the hill for James to arrive as she rubbed her right arm taking deep breaths.

"Just be brave Ryou!" She whispered to herself. "Just be brave!"

"Ryou!" James waved as he reached the top of the hill.

She smiled as James reached her. "Hi James!"

She remembered the fortune from yesterday and seemed to jump from surprise from the thought. "Um...is your mum Ok?" She mumbled

"She's worse than she was yesterday…" James shivered as he felt a chill down his spine.

Ryou looked at James clearly trying not to cry.

"So..." James cleared his throat "You're really going to do it today huh?"

Ryou gave James a serious look as she nodded in response and clutched her fists. "Yes!"

He looked at the seriousness in her eyes. "She's really determined" He remarked.

James sighed. "Do you mind if I ask you something a little personal?"

"Hmm?" Ryou raised an eyebrow

"Why do you like Okazaki?"

Ryou's face suddenly little up becoming a bright shade of red "Well...I...um...He's..."

James could tell that she was clearly having trouble coming up with an answer.

"How did you meet him?" he then asked thinking that perhaps there was some incident that would explain her attraction to him.

"Well..." Ryou cleared her throat "We met last year back when we were in junior year Kyou was the class representative for their class as we were all in separate classes. On the first day Okazaki and Sunohara had gotten into trouble and had to do some work for the school during after school hours..."

"I see…" James mumbled not understanding what this had to do with anything.

"As my sister was the class representative she had to watch over them as they did the work...It was building one of the huts for the PE equipment anyway I met up with Kyou as she was disciplining them. One of the pieces of wood being used to build the huts almost fell upon me and sis but Okazaki quickly grabbed us both and saved us!" Ryou chuckled nervously as she reminisced.

"So you're attracted to him because he saved you both that one time?"

Ryou nodded.

"Seems more like lust rather than love…" He thought.

"Don't tell her I said this but..." Ryou looked at James with a look of regret. "I know my sister also has her eye on him...that's another reason why I want to ask him out on my own because throughout my life...I've always been seen as second rate to my sister and just once I want to be able to do something that she can't!"

James looked at Ryou shocked. "I...I'm not sure if this is bravery or just selfishness..." He mumbled

"Hmm?" Ryou glared at him.

"It's nothing!" James quickly replied. "Anyway I'll see you in class!"

Ryou smiled. "See you!" She waved as James walked into the crowded building with a frown on his face.

...

James sat in the reference room lightly blowing off some steam from a piping hot cup of tea that Yukine has made for him. He carefully took a sip before placing the cup back onto the saucer on the table.

"So..." James cleared his throat. "Do you think there is anything I should do?"

Yukine gave him a serious look as she sat in front of him and grasped his hands gently. "I'm afraid it's not my place to say but...with things like this people like Ryou are open to getting hurt." Her expression turned from serious to sad as she looked at James eye to eye. "I'm sorry but that's the way it is."

James sighed with disappointment. "Yeah…you're right Yukine your right..." He removed his left hand from Yukine's grasp as he carefully took hold of the tea cup. "I just...I just don't want her to get hurt...She's a sweet girl after all and..."

James' facial color suddenly turned bright pink as he covered his mouth with a light cough.

Yukine gave a light chuckle. "From what you've told me it seems you both get along very well." She suddenly paused for a moment. "Is it true that...-?"

"No!" James raised his hand cutting Yukine off. "Whatever rumors are floating around that myself and her are dating are complete nonsense and shouldn't be taken seriously"

"I see..." Yukine replied looking rather surprised at the response.

Before she could say anything else the window suddenly slid open with tremendous force as a heavily built man who looked a few years older than both James and Yukine looking beaten up and tired jumped into the room.

"B-big sis!" the guy groaned as he collapsed onto the ground.

"Sudo!" Yukine gasped as she immediately stood up and ran over to assist the man.

"Um..." James struggled to grasp what was going on.

"T-things…a-..." The man suddenly coughed blood onto the floor. "Are getting worse big sis!"

"James pass me the first aid kit quickly!" She instructed as she turned her head in his direction "It's in the drawer near where I was sitting!"

"Oh...Ok!" James nodded as he quickly stood up and retrieved the first aid kit and crouched down next to Yukine handing her the kit.

"So who exactly is this guy?" James questioned as Yukine quickly searched through the kit. "Your brother or something?"

Yukine shook her head "No" she replied in an "I'm trying to concentrate" sort of way.

James waited patiently as Yukine bandaged up the man and finished after several minuets although the man was still unconscious.

"So..." James began to ask as he slowly stood up again. "You going tell me who this guy is?" He let out his hand in order to help Yukine up.

"Well...there's..." She suddenly began to look very nervous "there's…a…a...Group of people that I...look after I guess..."

"What sort of people?" James asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Well…They're..." She suddenly took hold of James' shoulders. "Look can you just...please not mention this incident to anyone? Please?" It looked to James as if she was about to cry.

"O-of course!" James nodded.

"Ugh..." the man groaned as he slowly got up and grabbed one of the book shelves as he stumbled a little."T-thanks big sis!"

"I'm just glad you're ok!" she nodded smiling.

James could tell by the look of this guy that he certainly wasn't the sort of guy he'd want to cross or meet in a dark ally.

James gulp in slight fear as the man looked at James.

"He a friend of yours big sis?" The man looked at James with menacing eyes.

"Yes he is." Yukine replied calmly as she turned her head to James and raised her hand in his direction "This is my friend James Walker and James this is my friend Sudo."

"Well..." James cleared his throat as he brought out his hand in the gesture of a handshake "Pleased to meet you!" He mumbled nervously.

Sudo shook James' hand in response. "Same to you man!"

Suddenly the window opened up again as another man with red hair and a purple jacket jumped into the room.

James quickly hid behind Yukine as Sudo and the other man stared at each other for a few moments.

"So you followed me huh?" Sudo questioned in an emotionless voice.

"You must be pretty damn stupid if you thought I was going let you get away!" The man shouted as he spat on the floor. "Let's do this!"

"Wait you two!" Yukine shouted as the two men glanced at her.

"Sorry Yukine." The red haired man spoke up while keeping his eye of Sudo in case of a surprise attack. "You're the last person I want to see suffer from all this! I can't even count the amount of time's you've helped me and my bros..."

"I'm sorry too big sis but I can't back down!" Sudo interrupted "This fight is for the sake of my bros and for the sake of our honor!"

"What...is...this?" James thought puzzled at the whole situation.

Sudo suddenly slammed his bandaged hand onto the wall causing a loud vibration. " **We'll take this outside I don't want to put big sis through any more trouble!** "

"I'm with you on that one!" The man agreed as he turned his head to Yukine. "Bye Yukine sorry again!" He grunted as he ran out the window followed closely by Sudo who quickly turned his attention back to Yukine.

"Big sis...there's one last thing...If another idiot like me comes wandering in take good care of him for me!"

"So long." He mumbed as he jumped outside of the building.

"Sudo wait!" Yukine shouted as she ran to the window but they had both already disappeared.

James coughed under his breath. "You ok?" He asked worriedly

 **DING DONG DANG DONG**

The warning bell suddenly rang.

"James." Yukine spoke up as she grabbed his hand. "Please whatever you do please don't tell **anyone** about what you've seen!"

"Of course!" James nodded. "I'd better get to class so I'll talk later!"

"Alright…" Yukine bowed as James left the room and began to walk as students began to clutter the corridor.

"What the hell was that all about...?"

...

James sat inside the classroom deep in thought as he waited for the lesson to begin.

In the corner of his eye he saw Okazaki enter the classroom and take his place behind James.

"Alright?" James mumbled to Okazaki with a slight wave.

"Yeah." He replied in a bored tone of voice.

As James was about to go back into deep thought he spelt a poke on his head knocking off his flat-cap.

"D-don't do that!" James whined in a slightly high pitched voice as he brushed off his hair and put his flat-cap back on.

Okazaki gave a light chuckle. "Sorry but I couldn't resist!"

James gave a few mumbled groans in response.

"Oh James right?" Okazaki questioned

"Yeah that's my name" He nodded in response raising an eyebrow.

"Are you busy at lunch?"

"Well..."

"Cause if you're not I need you to come to the drama club room to discuss something! Shouldn't take too long..."

"Well all right if it's not going to take too long but where exactly is the drama club room?"

"Do you know where the old library is?"

"Yeah"

"It's right next to it!"

"Alright sure"

"God not another thing to worry about!" James groaned in his head.

Ryou suddenly entered the classroom shaking nervously with her face deep in red.

She glanced at James and smiled as he gave her a thumbs up and mouthed "good luck" to her.

She approached Okazaki James could hear her breathing heavily and sounding rather flustered "O-o-okazaki?" She mumbled stuttering as she made a slight choking sound.

Okazaki glanced at Ryou not giving her his full attention. "Yeah."

"I…I...I…" her face became even deeper in red as she gulped and clutched her chest.

"Hey are you Okay?" Okazaki looked at her with concern.

James was worried too as it seemed as if Ryou was extremely close to having a panic attack.

Ryou gulped taking a deep breath "I need a...a word with you in private during break!"

"Sure." Okazaki replied with a raised eyebrow "Where do you want to talk?"

"Umm..." Ryou thought for a moment as she glanced at the window outside "H-how about out there in the grounds?" She suggested pointing outside the window.

"Alright then…" Okazaki replied.

Ryou nodded as her face became a very dark shade of red and she slowly returned to her seat.

James carefully took his phone from his bag and sent Ryou a text which read. " **You did well**!"

Seconds later his heard his phone vibrate as he got a reply which read " **Thanks!** "

But James was still worried about Ryou in the event of her getting rejected.

"Please be okay..." he mumbled under his breath.

...

After what seemed like an endless amount of time waiting for the lesson to end the bell finally rang as all students immediately arose from their seats to exit the classroom.

As James stood up to brush himself off he witnessed Ryou walk up to Okazaki (who had fallen asleep throughout the lesson) and tap him on the shoulder.

"W-what?!" Okazaki shouted as he accidently fell off his chair and straight onto the floor with a loud " **thump!"**

"S-sorry!" Ryou mumbled as her face became its usual dark shade of red from embarrassment.

"Oh Fujibayashi." Okazaki mumbled as he slowly stood up and brushed himself off.

"C-c-can you p-please" She suddenly look a few deep breaths "hurry up..."

"Sure." Okazaki replied looking half asleep.

James mouthed "good luck" to Ryou giving her a thumbs up and Ryou smiled giving a light nod in response and with that James watched the two slowly walk out of the classroom.

James quickly made sure that he had all his stuff together and headed out of the classroom soon after.

"I just hope everything turns out okay…" James thought worriedly.

Suddenly he felt someone remove his flat-cap.

"W-what?" He stuttered quickly turning his head to see who it was and to his surprise it was Kyou.

"Hi James!" She chuckled as she wore James' flat-cap.

"Oh ha-ha Kyou just give me that back!" He grunted sarcastically as he moved his hand towards her.

She gave him an annoyed frown in response "Gee you can't take a joke can you?" She mumbled as she removed the hat giving it back to him.

"Not when people are stealing my stuff." He mumbled as he placed the hat back onto his head "By the way I can't believe you this morning!"

"Hmm?" Kyou looked at James confused.

"You ran someone over!" He replied raising his voice ever so slightly.

"Oh!" She chuckled. "The kid's ok right?" She asked with a smug face.

"Yes." He mumbled putting his hand over his face. "But what would you do if something **did** happen?"

Kyou chuckled again. "It's fine, it's fine! The reaction when my bike hit was different after all!"

James raised an eyebrow. ""Reaction?""

"Yeah." Kyou glanced "What should I call it...the feeling when the flesh gets crushed with the bone? None of that was there was it?"

James immediately covered his mouth trying not to vomit "I'm definitely sure she is a psychopath!" He thought.

I'm sure that my skill reduced the impact." Kyou continued. "I'm sure that was that of a master."

"This girl is not normal..." James thought

Well nothing happened right?" Kyou smiled. "Everything's Okay!"

"I guess." James mumbled.

"Anyway." Kyou cleared her throat. "Is Ryou still inside the classroom?" She looked at him seriously.

"Nope!" James smirked. "She and Okazaki are going for their little chat" James gestured with his two fingers.

Kyou gasped. "W-where have they gone?!" She questioned while grabbing James by the collar.

"O-outside the ground's near our classroom!" He gulped nervously trying to release Kyou's grip.

"Come on let's go!" She shouted as she ran through the corridor at lightning speed dragging James along with her...

 **To be continued...**

 _ **Ok so I actually cut this chapter short as I felt that it was getting too long so be prepared next time for the feels!**_

 _ **Wishing you all a merry christmas and thank you to BuffaloSoldia115 for helping me edit this chapter!**_

 _ **Again please check out his Clannad fanfiction "A Shadow's Journal"**_


	12. Chapter 11: A Rough Departure

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad fanfiction**

 **Chapter 11: Rough Departure**

Kyou had dragged James along with her in the grounds as they quickly hid behind a bush watching while Okazaki and Ryou stood staring at each other.

Okazaki waiting for whatever it was that Ryou was going to ask him to be over with while Ryou herself shaking rapidly biting her nails and her face blushing very dark red.

Kyou was being careful not to be seen.

"Kyou!" James whispered. "I don't think we-"

Kyou quickly put her hand over his mouth while gesturing her finger over her lips with her other hand. "Shh! Be quiet!"

"So what did you want to tell me?" Okazaki asked as he raised an eyebrow.

Ryou took a few deep breaths while rubbing her arm. "W-well..." She gulped nervously as her voice started to become shaky. "I...I...I..."

"Come on Ryou you can do it!" James mumbled as he clutched his fist while Kyou started to shake slightly and suddenly grabbed James' hand tightly. "I think she's going to do it James!"

Ryou gulped suddenly putting her hand on Okazaki's shoulders. "This is going to sound sudden but I love you!" she shouted accidently raising her voice as her words echoed around the area while Okazaki gasped in surprise.

"Will you please go out with me?!" She shouted as she removed her hands from his shoulders as her face became a very dark shade of red keeping her eye's glued to the ground.

"I…" Okazaki mumbled speechless. "I..."

"Yes?!" Ryou glanced eagerly, trying her best to hold back tears.

"I'll be honest I'm surprised...I was under the impression that you were dating that foreign guy in our class..."

Ryou wasn't able to take it anymore. Just out of desperation, she grabbed Okazaki's arm's gripping them tightly.

"Fujibayashi!" Okazaki gasped.

"W-whatever you've heard it's not true!" Ryou stuttered. "W-we're just friends but..." She took another deep breath. "But if you go out with me I'll promise I'll stop hanging out with him! I'll...I'll make him go away! Please. Please. PLEASE go out with me!"

James stared at Ryou speechless at what he'd just heard Kyou then glanced at James sensing that he wasn't right. "James…" She whispered, rubbing his arm to comfort him. "Are you ok?"

"No I don't want that!" Okazaki raised his voice slightly as Ryou's eyes began to steam with tears "I'm sorry but I...I don't love you…"

Ryou took her hands off of Okazaki as she stared at the floor breathing heavily. "I..." She choked up. "I know what this is about you...you want to go out with my sister don't you?!" She shouted in accusation.

"No!" Okazaki raised his hands in defense. "I'm sorry but I don't love either of you I..." He looked at Ryou sadly as he could tell how much he was deeply hurting her. "I've just never seen either of you in that sort of way and I think you could find someone much better than some loser delinquent like me!"

Okazaki sighed. "I'm sorry."

Ryou put her hands over her face as she began to cry heavily and suddenly ran away back into the building.

Kyou suddenly jumped being from the bush approaching Okazaki. "Hey Tomoya!" Kyou gave a fake smile as she greeted him.

Okazaki jumped in shock at Kyou's sudden appearance "K-kyou! W-where did you co-"

But before he could say anything else Kyou punched Okazaki hard in the stomach making him fall to his knees.

" **YOU JERK!"** Kyou shouted as she ran off in search of her sister as a tear began to run down her cheek.

James still hid behind the bush in silence at what he'd just witnessed...

...

James sat inside the classroom playing with his phone.

He hadn't seen the Fujibayashi sisters at all after their rejection from Okazaki and he honestly wanted a little more time alone deciding to wait inside the classroom until the students would begin to fill up the classroom.

He was also feeling hurt about what Ryou had said to Okazaki regarding him:

" **But if you go out with me I'll promise I'll stop hanging out with him! I'll...I'll make him go away. Please. Please. PLEASE go out with me!** "

"She was actually willing to stop hanging out with me just to be with him..." James clenched his fist in anger.

After everything they had been through Ryou was just going to throw him away like that...

"S-she's just been using me!" James mumbled as he pulled a few hairs from his sideburn's. "She's just like _her_!"

James banged his fist on the table suddenly realizing that he was becoming stressed and had begun talking to himself.

He took a few deep breaths. "Just calm down James…" He exhaled. "Just calm down!"

He knew that he was becoming paranoid...surely Ryou had just said that out of desperation.

He took another deep breath and quickly sent Ryou a text.

" **Are you ok?** "

As James took another deep breath putting his hands over his face his phone vibrated to his surprise as he immediately received a reply.

James felt a horrible tingling feeling in his stomach as he saw the reply.

" **NO!** "

James couldn't help but feel that in a way this was his fault.

After all Okazaki like many others had assumed that he and Ryou were a couple but as James began to think it through Okazaki did admit that he didn't have any romantic feelings for either of the twins.

"What am I going to do?" James mumbled as he pulled a few hairs out of his forehead.

 ***DING DONG DING DONG***

The warning bell rang and noise could be heard throughout the corridors as students began to fill up their respective classrooms.

A small group of students entered the classroom and in the corner of his eye he noticed Ryou enter the room.

Her eyes looked red and watery indicating that she had spent the last several minutes crying.

As she walked to her seat in the corner of the room her eyes met James before quickly looking away from him and James could swear he heard a slight growl of disgust from her as she clutched her fists tightly.

James felt the horrible tingling feeling of anxiety in his stomach as Okazaki entered the room taking his seat behind James giving a tired yawn as he placed his arms behind his head before moving his legs around and placing them on top of James' head.

"Don't do that!" James grumbled trying to hold in the anger that he was feeling.

"Sorry!" Okazaki grumbled as he removed his legs from James' head "Are you still up for the drama club meeting?"

"Not if you're going to keep doing this!" He groaned. "Why do you want me of all people to go to the drama club room?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"I'll be honest there aren't many people interested in drama so I'm asking anyone I can find!"

"I see." James nodded in response. "Well I have a mild interest in drama so we'll discuss it there and we'll talk it through"

"Thanks man!" Okazaki smirked giving James a thumbs up.

In the corner of his eye James noticed a group for girls suddenly surround Ryou and whispering to her.

"I could bet £10 on what they're talking about..." James thought as he took his attention away from the group.

"Hey Okazaki!" A high male voice shouted suddenly springing out of nowhere.

James glanced immediately recognizing that it was Sunohara.

"Where have you been?" Okazaki asked in an uninterested tone while James listened to the conversation.

"Training to beat Sakagami!" He grinned while mimicking punches in the air.

James suddenly facepalmed. "Is that all you've been doing?"

Sunohara raised an eyebrow at James putting his hand on his chin in thought "Oh you're the forigen guy right? I remember you from the other day!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." James mumbled in annoyance. "Look I think you should lay off on Sakagami I spoke to her the other day and she said she's really tired of you harassing her."

Sunohara crouched down putting James into a light headlock whilst giving a smirk "I'd mind my own business if I were you man!"

"Leave it man he's all right!" Okazaki exclaimed grabbing Sunohara by the collar.

"Ok Ok!" Sunohara replied in a shaky voice as he released James and stood himself back up as he started to make punches in the air again.

"I tell you **this** time I'm gonna beat Sakagami!" He suddenly punched the window hard

"Ow!" Sunohara cried out in pain while James tried not to laugh.

"Why do I hang around with this idiot?" Okazaki thought.

Suddenly there was a loud bang in the left corner of the classroom.

" **WE'R NOT DATING SO JUST SHUT UP!** " Ryou shouted in frustration to the group of girls suddenly realizing that everyone had heard her staring in complete silence.

Her face suddenly became deep in red as she covered her face and her cries could still be heard as she ran out of the classroom in embarrassment.

"T-t-t-t-thats..." Sunohara gulped. "T-t-the first time I've ever seen her get riled up!"

"Yeah." Okazaki mumbled still in shock but remembering as to why she was being aggressive.

James tried his best to hold back tears as he crossed his arms with the incomputable feeling of anxiety in his stomach.

...

Ryou didn't return to the classroom at all after that and everyone was gossiping about it throughout the lesson.

As the bell rang James took a deep breath as he wanted to get the drama club stuff over with so that he could at least attempt to find Ryou somewhere on campus.

As James walked towards the door to exit the classroom Okazaki suddenly put his hand one of his shoulders. "Right I'm just going to pick up some food from the cafeteria so I'll meet you in the drama club room ok?"

"Sure!" James nodded

"There might be a girl already there her name is Nagisa Furukawa so introduce yourself to her ok?"

James nodded without a word.

"Ok see you!" Okazaki waved removing his hand from James' shoulder and exiting the classroom and walking down the corridor.

"Nagisa Furukawa" James thought memorizing the name in his head "So I'll finally meet her at last." He gulped nervously as he left the classroom.

Even though he knew from what Akio had told him that Nagisa was very shy he still felt nervous himself over the fact he was about to socialize with a girl that he had never met.

...

James soon made his way to the drama club room which stood just a few inches away from the old library.

"Here I go!" He mumbled taking a deep breath and knocking on the door and slowly opening it.

"Um...hello?" He mumbled as he walked into the room.

The room was fairly small in fact there was less space than there should have been due to a large amount of boxes filling up half the space in the room.

As James viewed everything he saw in the middle of the room standing there was Nagisa.

"Hi there!" She smiled nervously.

"Hey...um...Furukawa right?" His voice was starting to sound like a nervous whisper.

"Um-hmm." she nodded in response.

"That's good!" He smiled nervously "It's great to finally meet you as I've been meaning to talk to you for the past week that I've been at this school!" he chuckled nervously.

"Oh?" Nagisa question giving a confused look.

James quickly explained how he had met Nagisa's parents on his first day in Japan and how they had wanted him to try and social with Nagisa.

"Oh I see!" Nagisa chuckled after hearing the story "I don't blame you for being nervous since I'm kind of like that too!" She exclaimed looking down on the floor blushing.

Okazaki suddenly entered the room.

"Ah good to see you two have hit it off!" He exclaimed while eating a bread roll from the cafeteria.

"I guess..." James mumbled "So what exactly did you want me for again?"

"Well…" Nagisa spoke up. "Do you have any interest in drama?"

James thought for a few seconds "Well...yeah but would you want me to act in front of people?"

"You may have too." Nagisa nodded.

James suddenly felt the tingling feeling of anxiety enter his body "Um...if you n-need h-help with behind the scene's stuff like lighting then." He gulped as his voice started to become shaky and hard to hear "I-i-i c-could do that..."

"I suppose." Nagisa mumbled thinking it through.

"Well you're going to need technical support Furukawa so this guy could be your man!" He smiled giving a thumbs up.

"O-ok!" Nagisa stuttered blushing as she bowed her head.

"So is that everything you need?" James asked as he turned to leave the room.

"Actually." Okazaki quickly grabbed James' shoulder. "I'm also trying to help Furukawa convince people to join the drama so I'm making her give a practice speech! Perhaps you could stay a little longer so you can help give Furukawa some advice?"

James nodded. "Sure!"

And with that Okazaki placed a couple matt's onto the floor that he and James could sit on.

"All right now!" Okazaki exclaimed as he clapped his hands "Just talk to us like we've come to check out the drama club! Keep calm breath and talk carefully!"

Nagisa nodded. "Ok let's see now...welcome to the drama club I'm Nagisa Furukawa of 3B thank you so much for coming today!" She shouted nervously

"Good. Good. "James mumbled.

"Keep it up!" Okazaki cheered on.

"I..." She gulped nervously. "I hope you'll enjoy it here!"

"So what's next?" Okazaki quickly interrupted.

"Um well...Let me tell you the reason I decided to revive the drama club and...Um...uh...?" She was now clearly looking like she was having trouble figuring out what to say next while Okazaki sighed in frustration.

James quickly cleared his throat "So what type of play's will you be doing? Action? Comedy? Romance? Tragedy? Or maybe even a musical?"

Nagisa gasped in shock as her eye's widened "A-are there really that many?!"

James facepalmed while Okazaki gave a another sigh of frustration

"The future looks bleak..." He groaned. "So do you have any experience in drama?"

Nagisa looked at Okazaki complete embarrassed. "No I'm a complete amateur...I-I don't know anything about the dramatic art's..." She mumbled sadly.

James gave another rather painful face palm.

"Club leader...that statement was a bomb..." Okazaki mumbled

Nagisa glanced at Okazaki still looking rather upset.

"Ok I'm leaving!" Okazaki mumbled sarcastically as he began to stand up.

Nagisa quickly ran up to him grabbing him by the sleeves " **No wait don't go!** " She shouted in a childish tone of voice whilst James tried his best not to laugh.

Okazaki sighed. "I was just kidding…" He chuckled as he sat back down "Now you said there's a play you want to do! Well what sort of play is it?"

Nagisa gave a light smile "Well it's a very, very amusing play!"

"Yeah that's not enough information!" James quickly chipped in "Is it a surreal comedy?"

"No it's actually a whole lot more than just a comedy!" Nagisa exclaimed.

"So it's a comedy that's really touching?" Okazaki asked.

"Well it might bring you to tears but it's really quite funny too!"

James took a deep breath. "Ok, ok, ok, stop! This is getting us nowhere! You need to think about how you're going to answer the questions more! Maybe try scripting out what you might say to answer people's question's?"

"Oh I'll have to remember to do that!" Nagisa replied in amazement "Any more questions?"

Okazaki raised his hand "Yeah I have a question! What are those picture's on the poster?"

"They did a poster?" James mumbled

"It's the big dango family!" Nagisa quickly replied surprising both Okazaki and James.

"A quick answer!" they both mumbled

"It's the big dango family!" Nagisa continued. "Recognized by any Japanese and they're incredibly popular worldwide!"

"Never heard of them!" James mumbled

"A family of a hundred seems like such fun I envy them! If the whole family went to an amusement park I think there would be chaos! But the big dango family-"

" **Stop right there!** " Okazaki quickly interrupted

"Will you stop being so talkative all of a sudden?! There's such a difference in the intensity it's distracting!"

"I don't mean to be..." Nagisa mumbled feeling rather hurt.

"Well it's not bad to be tense but I dont it's right you just shouldn't be putting your whole energy into the dango family explanation."

"Yes I agree with you!" Nagisa exclaimed. "That would turn this into a briefing into the big dango family now wouldn't it?!"

"I'll be honest Nagisa I found it interesting." James chuckled.

Okazaki groaned. "I'm in a room full of idiot's" He mumbled.

Nagisa took a deep breath before sitting in between the two boys.

"So tell me why do you want to do drama anyway?" Okazaki asked with interest. "I mean you have no experience right?"

"Because I like it." She smiled in a childish voice

"Yeah but **what** do you like about it?" James asked

Nagisa began to then explain from what she was able to explain from experince. "I think that it would be so fun for everyone to participate in a play be part of a group and make something really beautiful and artistic. Ever since I was little I've missed all the school plays because I was always home sick and in bed when the plays were presented. I was absent a lot so I couldn't even participate in practices. So I've always wanted to do a play with everyone in my high school! I was always set in joining the drama club...I decided in my heart of hearts that I would work really hard at drama for three years but even in high school I haven't been able to come to school much...I was absent for most of my senior year but I still want to give it a try guy's I don't know anything I might be poor at acting I don't know but I want to do everything I can and work really hard! Working together with everyone on one wonderful thing! I think that would be an amazing experience! I think...I just like it!" Nagisa took a deep breath feeling exhausted from giving such a long speech before smiling at the two boys. "You don't think that's dumb?" She asked chucking happily.

James clapped his hands as a tear rolled down his cheek. "Beautiful just beautiful!" He mumbled to himself.

"I think you should tell them all of this at the briefing." Okazaki smiled "You know what I think you were able to say what you wanted to when you speak from your heart."

...

After several more minutes of discussing James agreed that he would see if he could continue to help Nagisa and Okazaki with their revival of the school's drama club and wished them good luck as he left the room.

James took a deep breath "Ok there's not much time left to do anything now so I guess I'll head back to class!" he spoke to himself as he suddenly heared his phone vibrate from his bag.

"Hmm?"

James quickly found his phone and saw the screen.

 **"You have one message from Ryou"**

James felt a chill down his spine as he read the message.

 **"Meet me in the grounds we need to talk!"**

James gulped nervously as he placed his phone back inside his bag and headed off to the grounds.

...

Ryou sat on a bench waiting for James to arrive.

She was the only person in the area as everyone else was inside eating lunch or taking part in club activities so there was nothing but deep silence and the creepy howl of the wind blowing in the air.

She felt a deep feeling of anxiety anger and regret at what she was going to tell James but (to her at least) this seemed like the best option for her for him and everyone else.

James came running into the grounds slightly out of breath "Ok..." He gave a slight gasp. "What do you need to talk about?"

"Just sit next to me and listen." She answered in a depressed tone of voice as she kept her eye's glued to the ground not looking at James what so ever.

"O-ok!" He stuttered nervously sensing that something was deeply wrong as he sat down beside her.

Ryou took a deep breath. "Ok first of all I know that you and my sister spied on me when I asked out Okazaki-"

"W-well" James quickly interrupted. "Well… your sister dragged me into it!" Trust me I-"

Ryou quickly put her hand over James' mouth. "She already explained so don't worry! B-but that's not the point I..."

Ryou was now clearly trying to hold back tear's "First of all I want to apologize for what you heard me say to Okazaki! I...I was desperate and and..."

"It's fine!" James interrupted in a relaxed tone of voice as he patted her on the head. "Look he may have turned you down but look on the bright side they're-"

" **I think we should stop hanging out!** " Ryou accidently shouted and like before her voice echoed in the lifeless grounds.

James removed his hand and just stared at Ryou in shock "Oh..."

Ryou sniffled still trying to hold back tears. "J-just for a while!" she choked as she wiped her eyes. "Just until these damn rumors stop! Everyone keep's asking me if we are dating and," Her face once again becoming deep in red. "As you saw in the classroom it's really stressing me out..."

"I see." James sighed. "And what does your sister think of this if she even knows?"

"I told her and she said I'm old enough to make my own descisions! She doesn't blame you for this if that's what you're worried about."

"Alright" James sighed.

"I'm also hoping that if...if these rumors stop I might try asking out Okazaki again..." Her voice was now becoming a faint whisper.

James suddenly stood up. " **Ryou wake up!** " James shouted in frustration making Ryou gasp in shock. "He told you himself that he doesn't love you or your sister! Just get over him there are plenty of guys out there and you just need to wait until you find the right guy!"

Ryou kept her eyes glued to the ground sensing that what James was saying was true. "Yeah…You're right..."

James took a deep breath "Look I'm sorry for shouting but...I just want to say that what you did today was really brave of you and I'm proud of you for making the effort to ask him out despite your anxieties."

"P-please!" Ryou stuttered. "J-just go!"

Tear's suddenly began to flow from her eye's

James sighed feeling sad as for the time being he had lost a good friend.

As he was walking back into the building he suddenly felt a bulb in his head as he remembered Ryou's fortune.

" **Tomorrow for the time being you will lose someone important to you** "

Jame's gasped putting his hand over his mouth realizing that her fortune had in fact come true.

It wasn't James' mum that the fortune was talking about it was in fact Ryou...

 **To be continued...**

 **Authors Note:**

 **Ok so first off I applogize for the delay's with chapter 11 and the next few chapters (not sure when those will be uplaoded because they need to be edited!) I had hoped to post this around new year's day however my editor has had a lot going on with other projects and personal affairs and I couldnt get anyone else to edit hence the delay.**

 **It's not the editor's fault (Once again edited by** **BuffaloSoldia115) Since he has his own projects and stuff to deal with but thanks to him as always for helping me out with the grammar and spelling problems :)**

 **Hopfully there wont be as long of a delay with chapter 12 and I have also written chapters 13 and 14 as well as chapter 15 which I am roughly halfway through with writing.**


	13. Chapter 12: Frustration

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 12: Frustration.**

James sat in the classroom in complete frustration and sadness. He kept his mind deep in his thought's not keeping his attention onto the lesson at all.

He kept his glance away from Ryou as he didn't want to even look at her right now.

He clutched his fists in frustration as they began to shake, he began muttering, trying to keep himself restrained. "Stupid girl! Letting the rumors get to her like that! Heck even if they were true she'd be glad to go out with a guy like me I'm the greatest artist in the entire damn school!"

James however, was not completely able to contain his anger or ego that had just risen up, unintentionally releasing it through speech.

"Is something the matter?" The teacher called out to him.

As James took a deep breath he heard the word "Weirdo" being whispered around and in frustration he pulled out a few hairs from his forehead taking another deep breath before raising his hand. "Sir may I be excused to use the rest room?"

"Go ahead." The teacher replied and James quickly took his leave.

Ryou watched him leave the classroom feeling the horrible tingling feeling of anxiety in her stomach. She could clearly tell that James was under stress from their conversation a few minutes prior.

...

James walked through the empty hallway with no intention of returning to class. "I can't go back there!" He mumbled taking a deep breath. "I'm under way too much pressure!"

James stopped for a moment to get his bearings as he gazed around the corridor. "Where the hell can I go?" He thought as the reference room would most likely be shut at this time.

"The old library I guess…?" James shrugged as he continued to walk.

...

"Hey you!" A voice shouted.

James ignored it thinking it was probably nothing to do with him.

"Oi you! Prick with the stupid hat!"

Upon hearing those word's James suddenly froze as his entire body began to feel like stone.

He slowly turned his head and saw a couple of tall buffed up guy's one with tanned skin and jet black hair the other slightly shorter with no hair and a stone cold stair. From what James could tell it seemed like they were members of the school's rugby club.

"M-me?" James stuttered in a slightly choked voice.

The tanned rugby player slammed his hand on the wall. "Who else dip shit?!"

James gulped in terror as his eye's widened "J-just…leave me alone...please..."

The twin rugby player's smirked as they slowly walked over to him

"What's a prick like you doing in these corridors eh?"

"W-well I..." James' legs were starting to feel more like stone as he felt it impossible to move as his voice became fainter.

The taller rugby player suddenly grabbed James by the collar lifting him up into the air and pinning him against the wall.

 **"I SAID WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE YOU PRICK?!"**

"P-p-p-please put me down!" James shrieked trying not to cry as his eyes started to water.

The slightly shorter rugby player gave a light chuckle. "Aww did we make the little prick cry?" He whispered to James in a patronizing tone of voice.

Suddenly James felt a sharp pain in his stomach as the guy holding him punched him as hard as humanly possible.

"Argh!" James groaned as the tall rugby player repeated the process another two times while banging James' head on the wall and taking away his flat-cap.

"I'll look after this!" The taller rugby player grinned as he flew James into the air making him hit the floor flat on his face.

"Argh..." James groaned as he slowly got up his vision slowly becoming blurry and feeling a small trickle of blood run down his forehead.

"Get ready prick because we'll be doing this to you every time we see you! Oh and every time is going be much more fun... **FOR US!** "

With James' flat-cap in their possession, the two rugby players walked away while snickering with absolute satisfaction.

"B-bastard's!" James groaned as he held onto his stomach which still felt sore from the punches.

"N-not my flat-c-c-" James suddenly fell to the floor making a horrible wheezing sound.

He had been punched so hard in the stomach that he couldn't breath.

"M-must..." Every word felt like a painful stab as he struggled to breath as his body started to feel weaker and weaker with every second. He was practically crawling on the floor his vision becoming more blurry and he began to feel a throbbing pain in his head.

"I'm going to die! This is the end..." James thought as his vision turned to black...

...

 **James could see flashes of a bright blue sky brighter than anything he had ever seen before. Thousands of tiny orbs were floating in the air as the sun shone brightly.**

 **His vision became black before suddenly viewing an endless field of sun flower's with a backdrop of mountains.**

 **"W-where am I?"**

 **His vision suddenly blacked out again before quickly returning as he saw a girl and...A robot?**

 **They appeared to be slowly walking towards him hand in hand the girl smiling while the robot merely jumped up pointing at James.**

 **The girl crouched down next to James and whispered to him. "Are you ok?"**

 **"W-where am I?" Is...Is this heaven?"**

...

James suddenly woke up gasping for breath.

"W-where am I?!" he exclaimed as he took a few deep breaths in order to calm himself down.

He turned his head looking around the room.

On his right stood an empty bed beside a window he could briefly see his reflection noticing his hair looked a mess and he now had a bandage on his forehead.

As he turned his head to the left there was another empty bed except sitting on top of it was...

"Tomoyo?" James looked at her confused.

She sat on top of the bed beside him holding his flat-cap in her hand giving a sigh of relief putting her hand on her chest.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" She exclaimed. "I...I was honestly expecting the worst..."

"W-what happened?" He gulped as Tomoyo passed him a glass of water.

"You were beaten up by two members of the school's rugby club **Akira Kishimoto** and **Tite Tezuka** they've been causing trouble for students for a while now..." She looked down on the ground as she clutched her fist on James' flat-cap. "I've been patrolling the corridor's making sure they weren't causing trouble but then I heard them picking on you...I'm sorry that I wasn't able to arrive in time to help you out..."

"It's fine." James quickly reassured her.

"No it's not!" She exclaimed, standing up on her feet. "For all we know things could have gotten worse! I honestly thought you were dead when I found you passed out!"

"Alright c-calm down!" James shrieked feeling shaken up.

Tomoyo took another deep breath. "Sorry." She mumbled as her face became a light shade of pink.

James suddenly realized what Tomoyo was holding in her hands. "My flat-cap!" James smiled.

"Yeah I was able to get it from them when I found them." Tomoyo smirked. "I honestly wasn't sure who they were picking on but as soon as I saw the flat-cap I knew it was you!"

She passed the flat-cap back to him. "I think its ok for you to leave the first-aid now" She smiled gesturing her hand to him.

James took Tomoyo's hand helping him up.

She quickly grabbed his shoulders as he wobbled slightly feeling dizzy still.

"W-what…" James cleared his throat. "What's the time?"

"Almost four." Tomoyo answered.

James put his hand over his face in surprise. "Crap...I missed an entire lesson..."

"Don't worry I explained the situation to your teacher"

"Oh thank god!" James sighed with relief. "Well since school is over I'd better get home!"

James began to leave the first aid room still feeling a little dizzy.

"I'll walk with you!" Tomoyo said as she opened the door for him.

"Thank you." James smiled.

He gave a sighed recap on the day. Definitely one of his worst as not only had he (at least for the time being it seemed) lost a good friend but had also been beaten and almost killed by the two rugby players.

But he was also glad to have been able to help out Nagisa and Okazaki plus it was nice to talk with Tomoyo for once as the two were barley acquainted with each other.

James searched his bag deciding to check his phone for any messages.

he flicked on the screen which read.

" **You have three messages."**

James saw that two of the texts were from Ryou while the other was from Kyou.

James glanced at the first message

 **I don't blame you.**

He then glanced at the second message.

 **Heard about the rugby player's incident! I'm sorry it's my fault isn't it?!**

He then read the message that was from Kyou

 **Hoping you're ok James. Ryou is worried sick right now despite the fact she wants some time alone from you.**

 **Please contact us as soon as you get this message!**

 **Even though Ryou doesn't want to see you for a while if you ever want to talk about any problems you have or need some advice just come and talk to me.**

 **Love from your friend Kyou xxx**

James put away his phone placing it in his bag. "I'll reply to the texts later." He mumbled running his fingers through his hair before placing his flat-cap back on.

 **To be continued...**

 **So we have a much shorter chapter this time round and this was honestly one of the quickest to write!**

 **Now I have a question for those of you who actually bother to read these little author's notes: Who do you think James is going to end up with?**

 **Now I already have it planned well in advance as to who he will end up with and even have the final chapters planned out which wont come for a VERY long time just in case it sounds like I am making this up as I go along.**

 **So Which girl do you think James will end up with (I.E Ryou Kotomi Kyou Tomoyo Nagisa etc) and explain why you think your choice will or could end up with him.**

 **I look forward to seeing your thought's on that and as usual thank's to** **BuffaloSoldia115 for editing the grammar and spelling mistakes for me!**

 **It is very much apreciated!**

 **(Chapter's 13 14 and 15 should hopfully be up soon! Be prepared for some shocking moments!)**


	14. Chapter 13: Gang Attack

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 13: Gang Attack**

James walked down the slope through the cherry blossom trees with Tomoyo Sakagami a junior.

Despite not knowing her that well James already felt that Tomoyo acted older and more mature than the people he already knew at the school.

As the petals from the trees fell down and blew in the wind landing on their hair James took a quick glance at the grey haired girl.

"She is pretty cute!" He thought with a grin. "And quite fit!" James quickly removed his glance keeping his eyes glued to the ground giving his left arm a slight slap as he lightly blushed and started to scold himself. "James you idiot don't think things like that! Control yourself!"

Tomoyo took a deep breath breaking the silence between the two that had lasted for several minutes since leaving the building. "I love these cherry trees!" She smiled as she ran her fingers through her hair before turning her head to James. "You?"

James looked up staring at the trees that bookended the two teenager's under the now orangey yellow sky. "I...I guess..." James half mumbled gazing as he walked. "One of these days I'll see if I can find the time to sketch them!"

Tomoyo chuckled with a smile. "I hope you don't mind but while you were knocked out I looked through your sketchpad!"

James glanced at Tomoyo nervously. "W-w-what" James gulped. "What did you think?"

Tomoyo gave James a slightly sad look as she glanced back at him. "Well…I'm no artist but...I think your good but you need improvement"

"Oh?" James raised an eyebrow "Can you explain?" He asked as he stopped to open up his sketchbook.

"Well go to the page where you draw the grounds" She requested politely as she stopped to look at the sketchbook with him.

James quickly skimmed through the page where he had drawn the grounds. "Well?" He asked in a worried but slightly annoyed tone.

Tomoyo put her hand on her chin thinking about what she was going to say as she didn't want to offend James' artistic talents.

"Well the trees look a little too large and the benches look too small...you also should add in some shading too."

James quickly snapped the sketchbook shut and grumbled under his breath.

Tomoyo sighed giving James a slight frown. "Don't tell me your one of those guys who can't take constructive criticism?!"

James gave a slight gasp "N-no I- Sorry it's just...never mind…" James sighed realizing that Tomoyo was probably right as he put his hand being his back and clentched his fist

"Your right Sakagami you are no artist!" He thought angrily.

Tomoyo gave James a suspicious look as they continued their walk out of the school.

...

Neither of them said anything after that and it wasn't until they were nearer to the flat that James asked Tomoyo if she'd like to have some coffee with him.

They were sat in a chair and table at Moth Burger where James had eaten with the Fujibayashi twins just the day before however as it was slowly nearing the end of the day there were much less people around in fact baring James and Tomoyo there was only a couple people at the restaurant!

Tomoyo took a small sip from her cup "Hey...your parents aren't going to be worried that you're out this late?"

James sighed under his breath as he drank from his cup and wiping his mouth "Well...My mum will most likely be in bed right now..."

James replied as he twiddled his thumbs and unknowingly giving a rather worried look.

"And your father?"

"We don't have anything to do with him!" James replied sharply looking at Tomoyo deep in the eye's which made Tomoyo jump back in her seat slightly in shock suddenly realizing that this was a touchy topic to discuss.

"S-sorry..." Tomoyo apologized glancing away from James.

"It's fine." He grunted

Gulping slightly and giving another sigh Tomoyo took another look at James this time with a more serious expression "So…how come you weren't attending your lesson?"

James accidently gave a loud gasp as his eyes widened before James could say anything Tomoyo continued talking. "When I came to your classroom to tell them you were in the first aid your teacher told me you'd be gone for a while. You weren't skipping class were you?"

James gave a growl of anger which only he could hear as he immediately stood up from the table knocking his coffee onto the floor and surprising the few customer's that still remained. "Is that any of your business Sakagami?!"

James made an attempt to scurry off and leave the restaurant, Tomoyo quickly managed to trap him by taking hold of his arm forcing him back onto the chair.

"I'm not letting you go until you tell me!" She exclaimed frowning.

Realizing that he was beaten he removed his flat cap and took a deep breath. "Ok here's what happened..."

James explained to Tomoyo the circumstances that had caused him to leave the classroom and how he had been beaten up by the two Rugby players. Tomoyo listened carefully realizing what had upset James in the first place and what his frustration was all about.

"I see..." Tomoyo nodded, exhaling. "But I don't think that was an excuse to just walk out of the classroom like that...if you continue that sort of thing your grades and attendance will worsen you'll become-"

"A delinquent I know!" James cried out, cutting Tomoyo off. "But you are right I shouldn't have let my frustration get the better of me! Heck I normally bottle these things up and just think about them while I try to sleep but for some reason this really upset me..."

"Well it's what she said to Okazaki that got to you I think…" Tomoyo suggested.

James felt the horrible tingling feeling of anxiety in his stomach as Ryou's words went through his head.

 **"But if you go out with me I'll promise I'll stop hanging out with him! I'll...I'll make him go away. Please. Please. PLEASE go out with me!"**

"That and the fact she wants to stop hanging out because of the rumors." James mumbled in response.

"It's her loss for letting these rumors get to her if I'm being honest." Tomoyo confessed.

James raised an eyebrow. "Well I don't know if...if you can say that can you? I mean you hardly know me and now that I think about it if people see us here there could be rumors about you and me going around tomorrow!"

Tomoyo covered her face blushing slightly at the thought of it. "Don't worry these things stop after a while trust me!"

"And even though I don't know you that well I think that...while you may have some arrogance you are deep down a good person and someone that I would be glad to be friends with!"

James quickly tried to hide a smirk with his hand.

"So do you think I should have a word with Ryou?" James sighed as he started to feel guilty about not texting Ryou that he was now alright.

"You can try but it's her decision in the end..." Tomoyo paused thinking for a moment. "It's none of my business but do you and Fujibayashi have a thing going on? Not that I believe the rumors!"

James grumbled in annoyance. "No! We are just friends! Honestly even if she did like me in that way I can't see myself dating her I...I just see her as a friend and that's all!"

"Well if she already knows that then she shouldn't let the rumor's get to her." Tomoyo rolled her eyes.

"Yeah but she's shy so these kind of things get to people like her..."

James cleared his throat. "Is it...is it bad that I think she has a bit of a selfish side? I mean she clearly liked Okazaki more for lust rather than love and the fact that she wanted to be better than her own sister and also stop hanging around with me because she got rejected well...well doesn't that tell you something?"

Tomoyo nodded. "Everyone has a selfish side Walker! Even us!"

"P-please just call me James!" He smiled embarrassed "I guess you are right though..."

Tomoyo gave a slight smirk. "By the way do you have any..."

" **Sakagami!"**

Quickly turning their heads (as well as alerting the few customers) Tomoyo and James realized they were being confronted roughly twelve rough looking people all who appeared to be the sort that would hit the gym every so often.

Tomoyo gave a gasp of surprise under her breath as she grabbed James' shoulder and turning her head quickly mouthing the word " **run** " to him.

James looked at the group of people that were slowly walking towards them and noticed that one of them seemed familiar. He was slightly taller than the rest with a bald head and wearing a black T-shirt and grey trousers. "Do I know that guy?" He thought with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Think you can just walk around here without us noticing!" One of the group shouted as the customer's began to run away in fear.

Tomoyo quickly gave James a slight slap across the face "James run just run!"

Getting back to his senses, James immediately stood up. "But what about you?!"

"Never mind me just go I can handle this!" Tomoyo insisted.

Giving a slight nod James quickly ran away into the street.

"After him!" One of the group shouted.

Three of the men quickly ran in James' direction Tomoyo quickly moved in front of them to stop their pursuit but was quickly slammed to the floor.

One of the gang member's quickly glanced back at Tomoyo before continuing to follow James. "I swear I've seen this guy before!"

"Argh!" Tomoyo groaned as she slowly got up from the floor. "N-not him! H-he's got nothing to do with this!"

...

Kyou was walking around town accompanied only by her pet baby boar Botan.

"Puhi Puhi" Botan gave Kyou a comforting squeak as she walked along with Botan in her arm's feeling depressed.

Kyou gave Botan a light stroke. "Everything's fine Botan!" She whispered to her pet as she didn't want the people walking past to think that she was talking to herself out loud.

"I just hope James and Ryou can clear things up." Giving a sigh she looked up into the darkening sky. "They were getting on so well. She sure was worried about him though…

Kyou took her mobile out from her pocket and checked her message's and found that she had received no reply from James.

"Pick up the damn phone James! Please I want to know if you're ok!" She muttered as her grip on the mobile hardened.

" **KYOU!"**

"Huh?" Kyou's eye's widened in surprise and disbelief as she saw James running towards her clearly out of breath as he ran with the three larger guy's chasing after him.

" **HELP ME!"** He wheezed as he zoomed past.

Kyou quickly darted out of the way as the three guy's almost ran into her. "W-what's...going on?"

Without thinking she placed Botan onto the ground and place her phone back into her pocket.

"Botan stay here!" She glanced at her pet as she ran after James.

Before James realised it he was suddenly in a back ally with no way out.

Between him was a brick wall with a few bins placed either side of the three gang member walking closer to him whilst clicking their fists.

"Your dead now asshole!" One of the men exclaimed spitting on the ground.

"L-look can't we just talk this over I..."

James suddenly realized where he had seen one of these people before.

It was Sudo the guy Yukine had nursed during the morning.

"Wait!" James exclaimed as he pointed to Sudo. "I know you! Y-you're one of Yukine's friends!"

"Huh?" Sudo gave James a puzzled look as he took another look at James. "Yeah now I remember! You're the guy from this morning!"

The other two men beside him suddenly looked at Sudo. "Huh?"

 **TWACK!**

The three men suddenly collapsed onto the ground knocked out cold as Kyou came into view.

James gave a sigh of relief. "Kyou!"

Before James could say anything else he was suddenly in a tight headlock as Kyou removed his flat-cap and began to dig her fists into his hair.

"Ack!" James croaked. "Kyou that hurts!"

James couldn't see it but a vain was now visible from Kyou's forehead as her expression became more aggressive and her eye's became blood red.

" **Idiot!** " She shouted loudly in his ear. " **Why the hell didn't you reply to the text I sent you do you realize how worried Ryou and I have been?!** "

"Y-your crushing my throat!" He wheezed as he felt a throbbing pain in his head due to lack of oxygen.

Giving an annoyed sigh she quickly released James as he fell to the floor coughing violently and rubbing his throat.

"Here." Kyou offered her hand to James. He grasped her hand as she helped him up suddenly hugging him tightly.

"You moron!" She murmured in a motherly tone as she stroked the back of his head.

"I'm sorry Kyou but…You're kind of crushing my back right now"

Giving a light chuckle she released James. "Let's go!"

As James and Kyou left the alleyway Botan was there to greet them.

"Puhi! Puhi!" She jumped up at Kyou worriedly.

"Botan!" Kyou sighed as she bent down and picked up her pet. "I told you to stay where you were!"

"Puhi. Puhi…!" Botan let out a worried noise as she snuggled up in Kyou's arms.

"Isn't that..." James placed his hand on his chin in thought. "The thing that Ryou drew?"

Kyou nodded smiling. "Yeah this is Botan! You can stroke her if you like she won't bite you!"

James looked at Botan nervously. "O-ok!"

James slowly brought his hand closer to Botan and put his hand on her head before quickly moving his hand away feeling her spiky hair.

" **Oh just pet her you big baby!** " Kyou shouted in a frustrated tone due to how long this simple act was taking and James quickly petted Botan on her head in response.

Petting Botan for a couple of seconds, a train of thought came crashing through James' head as he immediately remembered something.

" **Crap!** " James shouted making Kyou jump back in surprise and slightly frightening Botan.

"W-what?" Kyou stuttered.

"Puhi? Puhi?" Botan squeaked.

"We've got to help Sakagami!" James suddenly bolted back up the street where he had been running away from just minutes before.

"W-whoa James wait up!" Kyou shouted unsure exactly what was going on.

"Just follow me!" He shouted as he began to disappear from view.

...

It's over Sakagami!"

Tomoyo was now pinned to the ground.

One of them men stood on her back as he kept hold of her arms another man was holding onto her legs and lastly another one of the men had his shoe on her head slowly stomping her head further onto the painful concrete.

"Argh!" Tomoyo groaned in pain and frustration as she attempted to break free. "H-how the heck did this happen? I...I'm starting to slip up!"

She could feel a trickle of blood on the side of her head as she continued to be forcefully pressed against the ground.

"Those other bastards' maybe getting ahead of us for control of this town but at least we get to finish you off you bitch!"

The gang member suddenly smirked. "It's just a shame Kazuto isn't here to see this!"

Out of sight James Kyou and Botan arrived at the scene.

"Oh my god!" James covered his mouth with a slight gasp.

Suddenly Botan was in James' arms.

"Hold onto Botan for me!" Kyou exclaimed giving James a serious glance.

"B-but..."

" **DONT YOU DARE TRY TO HELP OUT EITHER!** "

Before James could say anything in response Kyou ran into the ground as Botan furiously tried to escape from James' grasp.

"Puhi puhi!" Botan squealed, in a panicking manner.

"B-botan!" James grumbled as he tried to keep Botan in his arms.

"Get off her you bastards!" Kyou shouted whacking the main gang member in his head knocking him into a wall and falling to the ground.

She then glanced at the other two gang members who stared at her in complete shock.

Kyou quickly jumped into the air kicking the the two men in the head knocking them down onto the ground.

"Hgh..." Tomoyo groaned as she slowly stood up from the ground.

"Need any help?" Kyou smirked

She glanced at Kyou furiously. "What do you think you're doing getting involved in this! That wasn't your-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Kyou interrupted. "Three of those creeps came after my friend and I had to save him so I think putting that into reason this was my fight too plus you were practically beaten when I arrived!"

"T-that's not the point..."

 **"You're dead!"** The gang member that Kyou has knocked into a wall was suddenly running towards her.

" **PUHI PUHI!"** Botan shrieked as she finally broke free of James' grasp and ran towards Kyou.

"Botan no!" James shouted as he ran after her.

The gang member whacked Tomoyo out of the way onto the ground hard and quickly tried to grab Kyou by the throat before she quickly dodged the attack kicking him in the groin.

"That'll teach you to pick on a woman you bastard!" Kyou spat as the man slowly fell to the floor in pain.

Tomoyo also stood back up feeling a sharp pain in her head. "I'll need to get myself checked!"

Kyou chuckled. "Yeah you look pretty rough!"

The two girls suddenly began to laugh at each other as Botan ran up to Kyou!

"Puhi! Puhi!"

"Botan!" Kyou gasped as James ran up towards them.

"Sorry!" He quickly apologized "she got free! Luckily the fighting's over with n-"

James suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head as he collapsed onto the ground his flat-cap flying into the air as he landed head first his face hitting the pavement and a trickle of blood started to appear from his nose.

" **JAMES!** " They both shouted as they quickly glanced at his attacker who was none other than the other two gang member's that Kyou had dealt with.

"Stupid kid!" One of them mumbled spitting onto the ground.

Before anything else could be said Kyou and Tomoyo punched the two men multiple times before jumping and kicking them midair finally finishing them.

They both stopped for a moment to catch their breath.

"Y-you're good!" Kyou gasped

"Y-you too!" Tomoyo responded.

They then looked at each other seriously and nodded as they walked over to James.

"He's out cold." Tomoyo mumbled.

"Come on! We'll carry him to his flat and let his mum look after him!"

Tomoyo looked at James worridly "A-are you sure..."

"Don't worry I know the way! Besides there's not much else we can do now come on!"

Kyou picked up James' flat-cap placing it into her pocket at she grabbed James from the waist up while Tomoyo grabbed him from the waist down.

"Ok!" Tomoyo nodded. "3 2 1!"

Using all their strength they lifted James off the ground.

"Damn it he's heavy!" Kyou groaned as they made their way to the flat.

 **To be continued...**

 **Authors Note:**

 **Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and thanks to** **BuffaloSoldia115 for the usual editing.**

 **I hope your all looking forward to the next few chapters as the story is going to start getting a little more dramatic from here on!**

 **And by dramatic I mean in some ways you would expect and in some ways you wouldnt.**


	15. Chapter 14: Bonding

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 14: Bonding.**

Kyou and Tomoyo were now halfway up the stairs of the flat that James lived in as they carefully carried James from head to foot and was still unconscious while Botan carried his sketchpad in her mouth.

"I..." Tomoyo groaned. "Think I'm going to do my back in!"

"Get in line sister!" Kyou groaned as she struggled to carry James.

"Ok so this probably isn't the best time to ask but what's his mum like?" Tomoyo groaned as her arms ached.

"She's pretty nice!" Kyou replied as she glanced at the unconscious James.

How on earth was his mum going to react to seeing her son like this? Knocked out with dried blood on his nose...

Kyou felt a cold shiver down her spine thinking of the various scenarios.

"That's good to know!" Tomoyo smiled halfheartedly. "I just hope we can explain the situation to her..."

"Puhi Puhi!" Botan agreed worriedly

...

They soon reached James's area of the flat and glanced at the door.

"So this is it huh?" Tomoyo mumbled looking at the door.

"Yeah." Kyou nodded as she placed her hands on her hips and took a deep breath.

"Just keep calm Kyou! I'm sure James's mum will understand the situation!" Kyou thought worriedly.

Tomoyo glanced at Kyou in annoyance as she held James. "Kyou can you just please knock on the door already?!"

Kyou quickly snapped out of her imagination. "Oh, oh right! Sorry, sorry!" She mumbled embarrassingly as she knocked on the door three times.

"Puhi Puhi..." Botan squeaked worriedly as she walked around James's leg's sensing that something was wrong.

Kyou could feel her heart beating faster than normal as she heard Victoria's footstep's coming ever so closer until the handle clicked and the door opened.

Victoria popped out her head from the inside Kyou could tell that she was looking very tired as her eye's appeared blood shot her hair was all over the place and her skin seemed to be a very pale colour.

"Um..." Kyou struggled to speak as she noticed the condition that Victoria was in. "Mi-m-m-m"

"Hello there misses Walker." Tomoyo interrupted sensing Kyou's struggle.

Victoria looked at Kyou with a slight frown "Oh it's you...and..."

As she glanced at Tomoyo she immediately noticed her unconscious son.

" **JAMES!** " She shouted as she raced out of the door wearing only a dressing gown quickly hugging her son.

"James! James! Can you hear me?!" Victoria shouted as she shook him "It's me your mum!"

The atmosphere was filled with tension which was very upsetting making Tomoyo and Kyou look away from the sight of an ill mother almost breaking down over the site of her beaten and unconscious son while Botan left James's sketchpad near him running towards Kyou.

James's eye's slowly opened. "M-mum?" James mumbled.

Victoria hugged James tightly stroking his hair.

" **Oh my god I'm so glad you're alright my favorite son!"** She exclaimed as her voice sounded slightly muffled.

"C-can I rest for...just a few more minutes..." James mumbled as his eyes slowly began to close as he fell unconscious again.

Tomoyo was trying not to break down crying knowing this was all her own fault. A few tear's began to flow as she desperately tried to hold them back as she hugged Kyou tightly.

"It...it's all my fault!" Tomoyo sniffled.

"Don't worry...it'll be alright…" Kyou had been trying not to cry herself as she embraced Tomoyo patting her on the back.

"Puhi Puhi!" Botan squeaked trying to comfort the two girls by running around their legs.

Kyou searched through her pocket picking up James's flat cap and handing it out to Victoria who was now trying with difficulty to get her unconscious son back into the flat.

"Here." Kyou mumbled to Victoria as she handed out the flat cap which now was starting to look a little worn out.

Victoria immediately turned her head in Kyou's direction as her eyes became bloodthirsty.

" **YOU!** "

Within seconds Victoria had violently slammed Kyou against the wall both her hands held tightly around her throat strangling her as she held her in the air a few inches off the ground.

"Misses Walker!" Tomoyo gasped stunned.

" **Puhi Puhi Puhi!** " Botan shriek as she jumped around in panic.

Kyou struggled to breathe as she felt her head spinning from the lack of oxgen to the brain "Miss-ack!" Kyou choked as she struggled to speak with the painful tightening grasp of Victoria's hand's around her neck.

" **STAY AWAY FROM MY SON! I DONT KNOW WHAT YOU WANT OR WHO YOU THINK YOU ARE BUT I KNOW YOUR TAKING ADVANTAGE OF HIM!"**

Tomoyo quickly tried to loosen Victoria's grip on Kyou. "Misses Walker I promise it's not like that!" She exclaimed.

Victoria took a few steps back and released Kyou who fell to the floor loudly coughing spluttering and gasping for breath.

Tomoyo held Kyou by the waist as she helped her up. "You ok?" She asked.

"Think so…" Kyou mumbled trying to regain balance feeling slightly dizzy while rubbing her throat feeling very shaken up over what had just happened.

Victoria clutched onto the flat cap and sketchbook as she got James inside.

"If I hear about you doing anything to my son again you will answer to me!" Victoria exclaimed her eye's keeping themselves fixed onto Kyou like a hawk hunting its prey. "And I can do much worse to you to!"

Kyou felt her whole body freeze up with anxiety as she simply nodded to Victoria as she slammed the door shut the noise echoing through the air.

Silence filled the air for what seemed like hours until Botan broke the silence.

"Puhi Puhi?" Botan squeaked as she raced around Kyou's leg's trying to comfort her.

Without speaking Kyou began to slowly walk down from the stairs.

"Hey..." Tomoyo grasped Kyou's shoulder "you ok?"

Out of nowhere Kyou suddenly began to break down crying as her eye's began to flow with tears.

" **I'm such an idiot!** " She cried out " **I…I can't seem to do anything right!** "

Without thinking Tomoyo quickly embraced Kyou hugging her tightly.

"It's ok..." She assured her in a soft comforting voice. "Don't cry..."

Kyou put her arms around Tomoyo in response as she began to feel the guilt and anxiety building up but at the same time steadily decreasing with each passing moment.

"Thank you!" Kyou sniffled as her grip tightened.

Tomoyo suddenly felt her heart racing as her face began blushing red "Do...do you want to walk around for a bit? Just so you can calm yourself down?"

"Alright." Kyou mumbled as she and Tomoyo released themselves and began to make their way downstairs.

"I know a nice place..."

...

Tomoyo, Kyou and Botan had been walking in silence for several minutes in the now almost pitch black streets as the moonlight appeared to embrace them with its gaze.

They were all thinking about James's mum and if James was alright after the state he was in when he recovered briefly before passing out again and what would happen at school the next day.

Tomoyo grasped her hand on Kyou's shoulder breaking the silence. "Look...um...hopefully tomorrow I'm going back to the flat to try to clear things up with James's mum."

Kyou smiled. "Good idea.." She then glanced at the Botan worriedly "Ju-" She cleared her throat for a second which still felt sore after being strangled by Victoria. "Just make sure everything is ok..."

Tomoyo nodded. "Thanks." She paused slightly looking at the red marks on Kyou's neck. "I wouldn't come if I were you though..."

Kyou sighed. "Yeah...I...I just don't understand why she think's I'm taking advantage of him..."

"Only James has those answers." Tomoyo replied as she looked around seeing that they were now in a large field of tree's which shone brightly in the moonlight. "How are you gonna explain the marks on your neck?"

Kyou lightly placed her hand on her sore throat "I'll think of something..." Kyou have a forced chuckle not entirely sure how she was going to explain the red marks around her throat to her mother or sister let alone to the people at school!

She turned her head to Tomoyo looking at her face. "What about you? You've got a few cuts and bruises too you know?"

Tomoyo sighed. "I'll think of something!" Tomoyo glanced at her watch trying to see the time through the moonlight only for the moon's light to brighten up the clock making it impossible to see. Botan suddenly jumped up excitedly. " **PUHI PUHI!"**

Immediately noticing Botan's happiness Kyou gave a light chuckle. "We're here!"

"Why here?" Tomoyo asked raising an eyebrow confused at Botan's excitement.

"This is Botan's favorite spot!" Kyou chuckled as Botan ran around the greenery in pure happiness.

"Oh?" Tomoyo murmured. "How come?"

"It's because this is a memorable place for her" Kyou replied

Tomoyo raised an eyebrow not quite sure what Kyou meant.

"Memorable?"

"Yeah." Kyou frowned as she gazed up at the shining moon. "This is the place where I picked up Botan."

"Picked up?" Tomoyo mumbled

Kyou turned her head to Tomoyo. "You thought I'd gotten Botan from a pet store?"

"Um..." Now that she thought about it a pet store probably wasn't the sort of place where you would find a wild pet baby boar up for sale.

Kyou looked at Tomoyo as her eye's widened. "I found her coiled up and shivering alone here during a rainy day." Kyou looked away from Tomoyo for a moment as her eye's began to slowly water. "Her parents and siblings weren't around."

She paused for a moment as she glanced at Botan who was completely lost in her own little world. "You know wild boar parents seem to only take care of offspring following them...I don't know if she just got separated or just got lost but ...she ended up being alone you know."

"So you took her back home?" Tomoyo questioned as she sensed the emotional pain Kyou was feeling.

Kyou nodded. "Terrible parents...just like my father" Kyou mumbled under her breath. "But that's how life is! During their childhood the wild boar parents feed their kids and they can only feed milk to them as they might also be teaching them how strict living is."

"The law of the wild right?" Tomoyo sighed as she knew how difficult life how be under stressful circumstances...

Kyou gave a bitter smile. "Something like that I guess! Since she won't always be together with her family"

Kyou then looked at Botan smiling at her pets happiness at running around the field. "Even then I think this is her most important place even though she ended up being abandoned by her parents the memories of her childhood stay in this place a place where gentleness and warmth remain."

Tomoyo despite listening to Kyou's words could see the sadness in Kyou's eyes as she told this story.

Taking a deep breath she put her arms around Kyou's waist hugging her "But I guess this place can't remain her forever huh?" She whispered sympathetically in her ear.

"Yeah." Kyou whispered in response. "This place will one day become a garage or maybe someone's mansion...if that happens Botans most important place will be gone..." A tear slowly began to fall down her cheek.

Tomoyo lightly pulled herself away from Kyou putting her hand on her chin staring deep into her eye's as Kyou did with hers.

"But that can't be helped can it?" Tomoyo murmured as she realized her own personal mission regarding the cherry blossom tree's was a similar situation for her. "This sort of land is too good to be left alone"

"Your probably right..." Kyou murmured "But that's human selfishness isn't it?"

"I guess so...but assuming this place does disappear Botan will be ok right?"

Kyou looked at Tomoyo in utter confusion. "Why?"

Tomoyo chuckled. "Because she has an even more important place than here now doesn't she?"

Kyou was now deep in thought. "An even...more important place?"

"When she's cold and shivering from the rain the one who'll embrace her and keep her warm is you right?"

Kyou felt her heart racing and her cheek's blushing red her breathing steadily increasing as her eye's widened.

"And also a new home would be made in place of the home she would have lost and I'm sure that it's a tender and relaxing place to Botan I think the most important place for her right now is you!"

Kyou's redness increased as she clutched her chest feeling her heart beating rapidly.

"I..." Kyou put her hand onto Tomoyo's shoulder's as her chest began to feel in pain from the rapid heart rate her face slowly becoming closer her pupil's dilating when suddenly...

Without a moment of thought under the bright moonlight the two girls were suddenly embraced in a kiss.

They both began to feel excited feeling their heart's racing rapidly face's blushing a dark shade of red as their lip's touched each other the scent of their perfumes becoming ever more prominent as they stroked each other's hair.

This seemed to go on for what felt like an eternity when suddenly.

" **Vrrrrrr…** "

Kyou suddenly felt the vibration of her mobile phone in her pocket as she suddenly realized what she was doing with Tomoyo breaking away from her as her redness increased as she breathed heavily clutching her chest Tomoyo was the same.

"W-what just happened?" Tomoyo gasped trying to regain her breath.

Kyou quickly picked up her phone and glanced at the screen which read " **Ryou calling."** A she noticed this she saw that the time was now 6:30PM.

"H-hello?!" Kyou answered still out of breath.

 _"S-sis where are you?! M-mum's really getting worried!"_ Ryou shrieked through the speakers.

Kyou listened to her little sister's voice in disbelief. "I...I..."

 _"Are you ok?"_ Ryou asked worriedly. _"You sound like you're out of breath!"_

Kyou quickly glanced at Botan who was still running around and immediately thought up a cover story. "Um...I...I was chasing Botan around! Yeah she ran off and I've been chasing after her!"

"Puhi Puhi!" Botan squeaked as Kyou glanced at her. "Shh!"

 _"I can hear her over the phone!"_ Ryou replied

"I just caught her! Look I'm heading back home now we'll be there in a few minutes!"

 _"Oh ok...Well I'll let mum know...Just be careful ok?"_

"Of course!" Kyou gave a forced chuckle as she hung up the phone quickly grabbing Botan.

"Puhi Puhi!" Botan squeaked in protest not yet wanting to leave.

"We're going home Botan!" Kyou quickly assured her pet.

She then glanced at Tomoyo as their eye's met they both glanced away from each other blushing before anything else could be said Kyou ran away from the scene. "Why...why did I kiss her?!"

Tomoyo clutched her chest breathing slowly her face still blushing red trying to calm her heart down as she watched Kyou run into the distance thinking the exact same thing.

 **To be continued...**

 **Authors Note:**

 **Well...I'm not sure what you are all going to think of that last scene. The stuff with Botan is adapted from the original Visual Novel from Key but obviously the stuff with Tomoyo and Kyou was my own idea. I somehow got the idea after watching Clannad: The movie and when I was thinking up idea's for my fanfiction one night. Now I know that some of you wont like what I am doing with Kyou and Tomoyo and if you dont like it well I'm sorry this is what I am going to be doing.**

 **Oh I am doing a Q &A on my YouTube channel at the end of march and if you wish to leave any questions just send me a message on this site of leave your questions in your review. I will let you all know when the Q&A is up.**

 **Thank you to** **BuffaloSoldia115 for editing this chapter as well as his support of the idea of pairing up Kyou and Tomoyo which is an idea no one seems to have done.**

 **Chapter 15 coming soon!**


	16. Chapter 15: Stuck in Regret

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction**

 **Chapter 15: Stuck In Regret**

After what seemed like hours of frantically running Kyou holding her pet, Botan, in her arms finally reached their home.

"Puhi, Puhi?" Botan squeaked upon seeing the house.

"That's right Botan!" Kyou smiled worriedly taking a deep breath. "We're home!"

She quickly reached the front door turned the door knob and entered the house immediately and unexpectedly being greeted by her sister who looked at her worriedly.

"Sis! Where have you...?"

But before Ryou could say anything else Kyou bolted upstairs with Botan still in her arms as she rushed into her bedroom.

"Gotta get changed!" Kyou thought frantically throwing Botan onto the bed (much to her pet's annoyance) as she began to remove her school uniform while searching her wardrobe for her dressing grown.

"Found it!" She exclaimed pulling out a light blue dressing gown with cloud patterns around it.

...

Downstairs Ryou stood staring at the stairs worriedly.

"She's back mum!" Ryou shouted to her mother through the kitchen "She just went upstairs!"

"Good I'm going to have a word with that girl right now!"

...

Kyou was now half naked only wearing her underwear and bra as she looked at herself in the mirror gazing at her body while placing her hand on her neck examining it.

"How am I gonna explain this?!" She murmured as she stared at her neck knowing that she would probably be having trouble speaking from a sore throat soon after this.

Her mind suddenly flashed back to her kiss with Tomoyo minutes earlier as her face began to blush red her heart racing as her breathing steadily became louder as she wrapped her arms around her waist feeling very uncomfortable.

"Why the hell did we kiss?!" Kyou slammed her hand on the mirror making it wobble around slightly as she dug her fingers into the roots of her hair pulling at them furiously. "What the heck is wrong with me?!"

Taking a deep breath she then lowered her gaze down towards her breasts slowly removing her bra throwing it onto the floor.

Kyou gazed at her reflection in the mirror as she began to touch her breasts. "Have...have they gotten bigger?" She mumbled to herself as her eye's widened feeling slightly uncomfortable.

Suddenly there was a loud knocking on Kyou's door making her gasp in surprise.

" **KYOU FUJIBAYASHI COME OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!** "

Kyou gave a painful gulp "In...In a sec mum I'm not decent!" She exclaimed, frantically trying to put on a her dressing gown while attempting to cover up the marks on her neck.

Within seconds she had herself covered making sure that her neck wasn't visible either as she walked to the door.

"Puhi Puhi!" Botan squeaked worriedly hiding under the bed.

Kyou grasped her hand onto the door knob slowly turning the knob and opening the door and popping out her head staring at her mother with a worried grin.

"Y-yes mum?"

Chiyo Fubjibayashi was a middle aged mother who had spent the last several years raising her two daughters on her own.

She looked similar to her eldest daughter Kyou with long hair although not as long as Kyou's but longer than Ryou's and she was in fact shorter than both her daughters. She had purple eyes and looked as though she was becoming tired from work at her time of life.

As for their father...well no one liked to talk about Daisuke Fujibayashi because of all the trauma abuse and terrible memories that came from the mere mention of his name.

Not to mention bringing back horrific memories for Ryou that she had long tried to forget less she have a mental breakdown or anxiety attack by being reminded of the traumatic events that made the twins who they were today...

"What time do you call this young lady?!" Chiyo looked at her eldest daughter with menacing eyes not unlike James's mum.

"W-well...I..." Kyou stuttered she didn't like having to lie to her own mother but this was a rare occasion for such a thing.

"You were taking Botan for a walk and next thing we know you're gone for almost an hour!" Chiyo shouted interrupting Kyou. "Do you realize how worried we've been? You know what effect things like this have on your sister!"

Kyou gulped as her eyes began to water. It was bad enough having been strangled by James' mum then suddenly kissing Tomoyo...she didn't want her own mother to flip-out on her too.

"I...I'm sorry it's just..." Kyou desperately tried to hold back tears as she ran her fingers through her hair. "Botan got loose and ran off!"

Kyou turned her head towards Botan still hiding under the bed mouthing "I'm sorry" to her.

Chiyo gave an annoyed sigh placing her hands on her hips. "Look! If you can't control Botan she will have to go!"

Kyou immediately gave a gasp of surprise as her eye's widened. "B-but..."

"No buts! I'm sorry Kyou but I can't have you running around at this time of night!"

Feeling defeated Kyou gave another sign as she looked her mum in the eye. "Okay mum...I understand...well...goodnight!"

Chiyo nodded as she turned around and began to walk back downstairs.

"Goodnight to you too." Chiyo mumbled under her breath and with that Kyou shut the bedroom door pressing her back against it slowly crouching to the ground with her hands over her face as Botan ran towards her.

"Puhi Puhi..." Botan gave a sad squeak.

"I'm sorry..." Kyou whispered to her pet as she picked her up cuddling and stroking her back.

...

"James!...James!... **JAMES!"**

James' eye's snapped open at the sound of his mother's distressed voice.

He felt a throbbing banging pain in his head as all he could see was a blurred figure which slowly focused into the distressed figure of his mother.

Victoria's hair was stuck up in various places around her head parts of it looked as if they had been ripped out in frustration her glasses were fogged up but James could see the redness in her eye's from where she had been crying.

"Mum?" James groaned as he slowly began to arise from lying head to toe on the sofa as Victora quickly grabbed his shoulders slowly helping him up.

"Don't force yourself love!" Victoria exclaimed.

James immediately agreed as he felt a horrible rush inside his head as he began to feel dizzy as he grasped both sides on his head blinking furiously.

"Shit..." James groaned as he looked at his surroundings finally realizing that he was back inside the flat.

"W-what happened?" James questioned as his mum hurried into the kitchen and activated the kettle as it began to whistle.

"You don't remember?" Victoria turned her head towards her son in the front room as her eyes widened.

"No..." James rubbed the back of his head. "The last thing I remember..."

James suddenly began to see flashbacks of what had happened. Sitting with Tomoyo at Moff Burger getting chased by the gang members meeting Kyou and Botan before being knocked out suddenly.

James gave a loud gasp as he rubbed his hands down his face. "Jesus what a day!" He mumbled so quietly that only he heard.

As James had been thinking Victoria slammed a tea mug onto the surface in frustration.

"I'll tell you what happened!" Victoria clenched her fist accidently digging her nails into her hands. "It was that Kyou girl! I told you this morning I told you she was taking advantage of you!"

James was completely confused as to why his mother was blaming the situation on Kyou. "B-but..."

" **NO BUTS!** " Victoria shouted at the top of her lungs. " **SHE'S TAKING ADVANTAGE OF YOU! SHE AND SOME OTHER GIRL BROUGHT YOU HOME UNCONSCIOUS! I HAD A VOICE MAIL FROM THE SCHOOL TELLING ME YOU'D BEEN IN A BULLYING SITUATION AND THAT WAS SENT TO ME AT FOUR PM!** "

Victoria took a moment to breath.

"M-mum?" James whimpered as he covered his ears trying to ignore the shouting.

" **IT'S ALMOST HALF SIX NOW AND YOU DECIDED INSTEAD OF COMING HOME YOU'D HANG OUT WITH YOUR FRIENDS! DO YOU REALISE HOW WORRIED I WOULD HAVE BEEN HAD I HEARED THAT VOICEMAIL WHEN IT WAS SENT?! FOR ALL I KNOW YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED OUT THERE!"**

James felt his stomach tingle with anxiety his whole body shaking as he placed two cushions from the sofa over his ears.

Victoria took several deep breaths to calm down seeing that she was frightening her son as flashbacks of her own abusive husband flashed through her eye's all the beatings all the broken pieces of furniture the many times James has hidden behind the sofa crying trying to keep away from his father and as he became older would barricade himself in his bedroom...

Victoria rushed into the front room hugging her son. "James...don't be scared..." She whispered to her son rubbing his back.

This instantly reminded her of the times when James was little that she would sing "You'll be in my heart" to calm him down and drift him off to sleep.

"I'm sorry I..." Victoria cleared her throat as she removed herself from James and gestured her hand to him.

"Give me your phone"

"Why?"

"Just...do as you are told..." Victoria kept taking deep breaths trying to remain calm.

Without a word James brought out his phone from his pocket passing it to his mum.

The screen was now cracked and a there was a tiny dent in the right top corner.

Victoria looked at the phone confused with all the Japanese writing and gave the phone back to James.

"Do you know how to block numbers?"

"No but..."

"James!" She exclaimed slamming her hand on James' leg grasping it. "I don't want you have any contact with that Kyou girl!" Taking another deep breath she looked at her son with a serious frown on her face "Text her that you can't see or talk to her anymore!"

For what seemed like at least a minuet James stared blanking at his phone in his hand.

"Do it!"

James quickly snapped back into reality. "Y-yes!" James answered regretfully.

James taking a deep sigh of regret slowly typed onto the phones keys.

 **Mum says I can't talk to you anymore she thinks you're a bad influence...Sorry.**

 **From James.**

James reluctantly sent the message.

"It's done." James nodded.

Victoria grinned. "Good! And if I do find that you're still talking to her I will take away your laptop!"

James nodded. "Yes mother!"

Victoria placed her hands on James' shoulders. "I don't mind you hanging out with her sister though..."

James' felt what felt like a spike traveling through his stomach as his anxieties worsened at the mention of Ryou.

"Um...what was her name again?" Victoria questioned not noticing her son's pain.

"R-ryou…" James mumbled in response.

"Yes that was it!" Victoria grinned "Yes hang around with her more she seemed like a lovely girl!"

James immediately clenched his fists in frustration and anger.

"And who knows you may end up having a cute little girlfriend!" Victoria smiled.

James suddenly bolted up from the sofa and headed in the direction of his bedroom.

"I'm going to the bedroom to work!" James grumbled.

Victoria watched her son in disbelief as he slammed the bedroom door shut as he entered.

"I'll bring your tea in for you!" Victoria shouted to him.

Inside the room James saw that Victoria had already placed his bag and sketch-pad onto his bed.

James sighed taking another deep breath as he placed his hands on his hips. "Ok...I need something to take my mind off of things..."

James looked around the room to see what he could do. He looked at his TV and old VHS tapes and DVD's lying around but he didn't feel like watching anything.

He brushed his hand around the side of his face. "Dont feel like using my laptop either..."

He then looked at the window ceil and there in plain sight was the strange star carving he'd received the other day.

He slowly walked over to it picking it up and examining it. "Does this thing serve any purpose?" His thoughts looked at the carving admiring the craftsmanship that had gone into creating this little piece of art.

Then the words suddenly hit him "Art" James's eye's widened as his face grinned "I guess I could paint over this and customize it a little..."

...

A few hours has passed and both of the Fujibayashi twins were crept up in their separate bed's which stood at either sides of the room surrounded by a few stuffed toy's a small desk filled with school books manga's and magazine's and a large mirror stood next to a pale brown colored wardrobe.

Ryou lied in her bed slightly hunched up as she drew carefully in her sketchpad wearing light blue pajamas with red crosses around it and white trimmings at the neck and hand areas.

Kyou chuckled as she watched her sister from the other side of the room. "Still drawing away huh?" Kyou was covered up in her bed still wearing herdressing gown trying to make sure her neck was covered.

Ryou chuckled nervously as she nodded. "Yes! Yes I really like it!"

She suddenly felt the cold tingling pain of anxiety as she was instantly reminded of who had inspired her to start drawing.

"Ever since meeting James I've really loved to draw and..." Ryou sniffled as her eyes began to water and as a tear ran down her cheek. "I really wanna improve!" She choked up as she turned her head to look at her older sister. "Sis..." Ryou's eyes widened.

As Kyou looked at her sister eye to eye she could immediately tell what she was going to ask.

"Did...did I do the right thing?" Ryou wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

Kyou gave Ryou a serious frown as she answered her sister's question. "Even if you are old enough to make your own decisions, just remember to try, TRY, and think of the consequences if there are any from what you are about to do. If what you do does cause consequence, then prepare to face them."

Ryou nodded in response without a word.

Kyou began to feel uncomfortable as she thought about her kiss with Tomoyo. She gave a slight groan as she turned herself around to face the wall not looking at her sister. She felt the tingling feeling of anxiety in her stomach her heart beating rapidly and her breathing rate increased.

"M-" Kyou gulped nervously. "Mind if I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"If someone told you that they..." Kyou's eye's widened as she felt her cheeks become warm from her blushing. "That they were bi or...liked girls in a romantic sort of way?"

Ryou's eye's widened. "W-what?!"

Kyou lightly slammed the wall not wanting to wake her mother up as she clutched her chest. "Just answer the damn question!"

"W-well…" Ryou stuttered still shocked about the question. "I'd be a little surprised at first...but if that's honestly what they prefer then I'm fine with it since it's their life and not mine..."

Kyou thought hard about what her sister had just said. In the past Ryou was usually the one asking the questions with Kyou giving the advice so the situation being the other way round for her felt strange.

"I see..." Kyou replied. "Also do my boobs look like they are getting bigger to you?"

"Sis...Why are you asking?"

Kyou grumbled under her breath. "Never mind!" She answered clutching her fists. "Just shut up and keep drawing!" Kyou gave a painful cough as her throat now felt very sore.

" **Vvvrrrr** "

"Huh?" Kyou jumped up slightly in shock as she heard her phone vibrate.

"You've got a text?" Ryou asked curiously.

"Probably just junk mail!" Kyou grumbled as she picked up her phone.

She clicked onto the screen and her eye's widened as she saw the notification.

" **You have one message from James** "

"It's from James!" Kyou gasped surprised as Ryou looked at her feeling uncomfortable "Is he ok? What does it say…?"

Kyou looked at the text.

Her eyes widened her feeling of anxiety increased and she tried to hold back a tear as she read the text.

"What does the text say?"

Kyou turned her head giving her sister a fake grin. "It's fine! It's nothing!"

"Ok..." Ryou looked at her sister worriedly

Kyou quickly turned off her phone and placed herself back into her bed covers.

"I really can't do anything right..."

 **To be continued...**

 **Authors note:**

 **Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and a thanks to those of you who have stuck around since a few people werent happy with the ending of chapter 14.**

 **I just wanna clear up that James is still the main focus of the story and the Kyou thing is a "subplot" and also as you can tell Kyou and Tomoyo are NOT together it was a heat of the moment thing. Weather or not Kyou is really interested in Tomoyo or not well you will have to keep reading to find out.**

 **As my editor said to me once:**

 **"No one cares who James ends up with but as soon as people think Kyou and Tomoyo are together THEN EVERYONE LOOSES THEY'RE MINDS!**

 **But anyway thank you to BuffaloSoldai115 for editing this chapter and chapter 16 which may be uplaoded soon than you think depending on my free time ;)**

 **And now to quote Lucky Star "Look forward to it!"**


	17. Chapter 16: Insecurities beyond repair

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 16: Insecurities Beyond Repair**

James was sat bare chested in his striped blue and white pajama shorts.

His bed was creased and untidy his pillows in need of reshaping and a now stone cold cup of tea was sitting by the window ceil.

He's spent the last hour and a half painting the strange star carving that he'd received the previous week from some girl that he didn't know.

All he could remember was her saying "Please accept this!" before running off down a corridor.

"What was that about?" James thought as he carefully placed a red stripe of paint around the star that he had now painted white.

He had coated the star in white paint with an orange stripe, blue stripe red stripe, yellow stripe, and a purple stripe on one side while the other side remained white for when the first side of the star was dry and ready to paint on the other side.

James took a deep breath as he took a gulp from the stone cold tea. A shiver ran down his spine as the coldness passed through his body.

A lot of concentration needed to be done for this customizing of the star as to not mess up its colors. James loved to do this kind of painting as it helped take his mind off of things and this was certainly one of those occasions.

He would glance at his mobile as his heart thumped with anxiety at the thought of Kyou replying to the text with something like "You Jerk!" or "Go and drop dead you ungrateful bastard!" but no such text had appeared. His anxieties can remain at bay for the time being.

What would happen when they met at school? Would she try to beat him up again? Drips of sweat ran down James's forehead as he thought.

Ryou had left him due to selfish but understandable reasons and now he was no longer allowed to mix with Kyou.

He felt his eye's beginning to water as he glanced at the photo he and the twins had taken together in the photo booth the previous day.

They all looked so happy. James and Ryou looked rather nervous while Kyou stood in the center with a cheery smile.

"Who else can I talk to?" James sighed in a frustrated and sad tone.

Okazaki, Sunohara, Nagisa, Kotomi, Tomoyo, and Yukine came to mind.

He wasn't sure if outside of the drama club, Okazaki would be a good person to hang around with. Sunohara on the other hand was just an embarrassment.

Nagisa was pretty cute and felt that he could help her out more with her mission to revive the drama club.

Yukine would probably be interesting to hang around with if she had the time to do so, and Tomoyo was of course busy with student council related issues.

And then there was Kotomi...

"Didn't see her at all yesterday..." James mumbled to himself regretting the fact that he'd not popped in to see her once. He felt as if Kotomi although a little weird would be fun to hang out with. "She is pretty cute and has a nice personality." James though as he began to think about her more. Her hair…Her face…Her body...

James quickly smacked himself on the cheek hard. "Stop thinking like that you idiot!"

"I...I can't help it!"

"You don't know her that well stop thinking like that!"

"I can't help it I mean she's so damn cute!"

"I know she's cute but remember the other day in the bookstore? She'd just been looking through bookstores all day!"

"Well she is a little weird but..."

"No buts! Besides whether it be Kotomi, Ryou, Kyou, or any of the other girls **DO NOT GET INVOVLED WITH ANY OF THEM IN THAT KIND OF WAY!** "

"Who the hell am I talking too?!" James exclaimed smacking himself in the face hard several times over.

"Shit…" James groaned as he grabbed his head with both hands in order to reduce the feeling of dizziness that he felt.

James ran his hands how his face unintentionally leaving a couple lines of white on his forehead.

For reason's even James could not explain he took his paint brush placed it into his mouth and licked off the paint.

"Argh god!" James spat out small splotches of spit and paint from his mouth before taking another gulp of tea.

"Ok!" James took a deep breath waving his arms around in the air in order to calm himself down. "Ok! I am...working way too much and I am under way too much damn pressure...and there I am talking to my damn self again!"

As if scared by his actions James quickly placed the star carving on the window ceil to dry leaving his brushes in a small plastic grey cup with smudges of dry paint all around it.

James then moved inside his bed putting his face head first into the pillow.

"Just...need...some...sleep..."

...

 **James could hear himself breathing heavily as he slowly moved through what seemed like an endless pitch black corridor.**

 **He tried to speak but couldn't as if his mouth had been forced shut. A customized star carving appeared in the top left corner then the right before another two appeared in the bottom corners.**

 **The stars slowly closed in on each other morphing into one big star before morphing again this time into Ryou's head which looked deep into James' eyes with a look of anger**

 **"It's all your fault James! If you hadn't come to this school Okazaki and I would be dating! It's all your fault!"**

 **James could feel his heart racing painfully as he clutched his chest.**

 **The head suddenly morphed into Kyou's giving the same angry look.**

 **"My sister's unhappy because of you James! If you didn't screw everything up she'd be happy!"**

 **Then face then morphed into Tomoyo again with the same thrown.**

 **"You're a waste of talent James! You can't draw well at all...you might as well give up..."**

 **The face morphed one final time and to James's shock and horror it was Kotomi.**

 **But she didn't say anything she looked at him with the same angry frown as all the other except she was just...staring at him...**

 **The scene changed in the blink of an eye. James could see himself looking into a mirror as if deep in thought...**

 **Taking a deep breath James suddenly held a knife in his hand as he slowly placed it against his left ear...**

 **The scene switched to the floor as the ear fell upon it in a pool of blood and a blood curdling scream of pain.**

...

James immediately bolted up right from the bed his heart beating rapidly from the shock of such a horrific nightmare.

"Oh god!" James gasped taking several deep breaths as he felt the side of his head reassuring himself that his left ear was still intact.

"Just a dream..." James mumbled giving a relived sigh as he reached for his phone to check the time.

…

 **8:40AM**

"Puhi, puhi!" Botan squeaked frantically trying to wake Kyou up jumping all over the bed before accidently jumping onto her head.

"W-what?!" Kyou gave a light gasp bolting upright making Botan fly into the air and landing onto the floor.

"Puhi, puhi..." Botan gave a painful squeak.

Kyou hadn't exactly slept well it was as if she had closed her eyes and then opened them and it has turned to morning she quickly came to her senses wiping the drool from her mouth as everything came back to her the text from James being strangled by his mum and worst of all the kiss between her and Tomoyo.

"I just don't understand..." Kyou mumbled to herself rubbing her neck noticing her voice sounded raspy and felt like she had a sore throat.

As she gazed across the room she immediately noticed Botan lying still on the floor.

"Botan!" Kyou exclaimed in a fit of panic as she immediately rushed over to her pet putting her into her arm's cradling her like a mother with a new born baby.

"Botan! Botan!" Kyou panicked. "Are you ok? Mummy's here!"

As if by hearing her distressed voice Botan jumped back into full gear squeaking rapidly as if to assure Kyou that she was fine.

"Thank God!" Kyou sighed stroking her pet to try and calm herself down.

She then placed Botan back onto the floor as she noticed the time on the clock on the wall: 8:40AM.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Kyou gasped quickly preparing some fresh clothes and towel's from the drawers as she horridly left the room and rushed into the bathroom.

Kyou had never been this late to school before. Ever since purchasing her motorbike she had left for school much later than Ryou and all the other students so that no one would see her on her motorbike and thus not get suspended for breaking school rules but this was really close to the knuckle.

Kyou's mother worked in a local convenience store from the early hours of the morning till mid-afternoon and Kyou was grateful that her mother didn't know that she went to school late just to use the bike knowing that it would be taken away from her.

Part of her felt that losing the bike would be equally just as bad as losing Botan. She loved the thrill of driving down an empty road at top speed the wind blowing in her face as her heart pumped with adrenaline. She tried to make sure that she didn't go too fast not wanting to cause an accident (having run someone over the previous day!) but despite all her worries she loved the thrill of a wild ride.

As she was about to activate the shower she looked at herself in the mirror the marks around her throat had toned down but still clearly visible.

Kyou turned on the shower as she undressed herself leaving her dressing down slumped onto the floor.

"Gotta make this quick!" Kyou thought as she stepped into the shower.

The water felt warm as it fell upon her body she ran her fingers through her hair as she proceed to place strawberry scented shampoo into it.

As she did this her mind began to focus on James.

"Poor guy…" Kyou sighed as she thought. "He's really not had a good time at this place..."

Her anxieties began to build up again as she thought about how she had treated James during his first few days at the school mistaking him for some kind of pervert because of his shyness and strangling him for unintentionally getting Ryou into trouble with her teacher. "I was an idiot..." Kyou mumbled to herself.

She thought she had made up with him after buying him a new phone and treating him to lunch but now that she thought about it however that did seem like she was buying his friendship rather than building one and that was most likely why his mother had thought she was taking advantage of him.

"I really can't do anything right at all..."

Kyou ran her hands through her face accidently stinging her eye's with the shampoo around her hands.

Kyou groaned grabbing a flannel to wipe her eye's refreshing them with water.

She desperately wanted to set the record straight with Victoria but would she believe her? When Kyou had mistook James as a pervert she hadn't listened to Ryou whenever she would try to defend him so the same thing could happen with Victoria in her situation.

Taking a deep breath she then deactivated the shower picking up her towel and brushing her hair to dry it quicker.

"I'm gonna look a mess by the time I get to school" She groaned.

Her mind then slipped back into flashes of her kiss with Tomoyo Sakagami making her heart race and her cheek's blush a dark shade of red at the very thought.

"Why the hell did I kiss her?!" Kyou grunted as she became more forceful with brushing off her hair as she accidently slipped on the water that was still draining away quickly grabbing the plastic pole that was fixed to the wall.

"Ok calm down Kyou!" She shouted to herself. "Just keep calm and breath!"

Taking a few deep breaths she began to dry off her body as she thought about her dilemma "I just don't get it I mean...I like guys...don't I?" Kyou suddenly flashback back to Okazaki's prank the previous week.

" **Kyou Fujibayashi of class E is bi!** "

Kyou gasped as she remembered that prank. "I can't be bi! I just can't!"

After she was finally dry Kyou proceeded to brush her teeth go back into the bedroom put on her school uniform very quickly brush her hair while tying on the white bow that resided on the right side of her head and adding on a plain white scarf around her neck in order to avoid the subject of the marks on her throat.

Giving another sigh she put her hand on her chest. "Right I'd better get going!" She murmured as she noticed the time was now 8:50 and she would have to skip breakfast in order to make it to school on time knowing that she would be able to get something to eat during lunch.

...

"Puhi, puhi!" Botan squeaked worriedly as Kyou ran down the stair's carrying her motorbike helmet.

"Mummy's off to school now Botan! Just stay here okay?"

"Puhi Puhi!" Botan gave an obedient squeak as Kyou unlocked the door and left the house.

As she locked the door she went to the front lawn where her motorbike resided.

"Okay…" Kyou sighed. "Here we go!"

Placing her helmet onto her head making sure it was firmly strapped around her she jumped onto the bike took out a key from her pocket activating the engine which gave a loud hum that echoed through the area surprising a few bird's that suddenly flew away from some nearby tree's.

She quickly sped off in the direction of the school making sure her scarf didn't catch on the wheels (which would snap her neck) as well as trying to concentrate on the road and making sure she didn't run over anyone or crash into oncoming vehicles.

But her thoughts were still on Tomoyo.

"It's got to be a phase!" Kyou assured herself as her grip on the handles tightened. "A phase that's all!"

...

James rushed out of the flat.

The time was now 8:50 he had quickly showered changed into his uniform and forced down a bowl of Weetabix into his system his mother was still in bed and James had left the usual note telling her that he had gone off to school.

He was running faster than normal as he bolted down the many stairs that lead to the bottom of the flat making him feel exhausted and out of breath as his heart burned painfully and his leg's hurt.

James clutched his chest gasping. "O-ok!" He wheezed. "Got to...get there on time!"

It was times like this when James wished he could take a bus to school but they would most likely be finished with the school routines by this time.

Taking a few more deep breaths stretching his legs and arms he continued his run as his dream from the previous night still lingered in his mind.

"What...what was that about?" James thought trying to concentrate on not bumping into anyone. "First I see everyone's faces..."

 **"It's all your fault James! If you hadn't come to this school Okazaki and I would be dating! It's all your fault!"**

 **"My sister's unhappy because of you James! If you didn't screw everything up she'd be happy!"**

 **"You're a waste of talent James! You can't draw well at all...you might as well give up..."**

"Did those words mean anything...?" James wondered.

In the past, he had read before that dreams sometimes signified an emotion or situation a person was going through.

"I suppose I could ask Yukine if she would know anything about dreams." James remembered that he needed a word with her anyway after being attacked by some thugs the previous day one of them being Yukine's friend, Sudo. "What was that about? And why were they after Tomoyo?"

James's mind flashed back to the dream as he saw Kotomi's frowning face staring at him.

"That face..." James felt a chill run down his spine. "It was a look of utter disgust...but why would she…"

James tried to shake off the feeling as he looked through his surroundings an empty road with a few parked cars and people walking around enjoying their lives.

"I think..." James gazed up at the sky. "That final part of the dream was the worst part of it!"

Another chill ran down his spine realizing the dream was exactly like when Vincent Van Gogh in a fit of rage and mental illness cut off his ear.

"Why did I dream about myself doing such a messed up thing?!"

...

James had almost reached the school as he was now near the cherry blossom trees first reaching the long stretch of road that would usually be packed with students walking towards the school at earlier times.

James could feel an echo in his chest as he wheezed completely out of breath his head spinning and his arm's shaking.

Quickly rummaging through his pocket he checked the time.

 **9:05AM**

James gave a sigh of disappointment upon seeing he was five minutes late but deep down he knew it would have been impossible to make the run from his flat to the school in under ten minutes.

James was too exhausted to notice the sound of an incoming vehicle.

" **GET OUT OF THE DAMN WAY!** "

"Huh?" James quickly came to his senses upon hearing the familiar voice.

Kyou was coming straight for him at top speed and there was no way he could dodge her in time he quickly shut his eye's expecting the motorbike to hit him within seconds.

 **TWAK!**

James heard the impact but didn't feel it and he could still here the sound of the motorbikes engine.

He instantly opened his eye's turning his head towards the direction of the sound.

The motorbike had hit a lamp post and was now lying on its side on the ground humming loudly as the wheel's still turned rapidly and a few inches away from the bike was Kyou lying on the ground.

"Kyou!" James gasped quickly running towards her as she came back to her senses trying to get back up. He didn't care that his mother would ban him from using his laptop for talking to Kyou. He knew that the right thing to do was to make sure Kyou was at least okay.

"Kyou are you okay?!" James exclaimed as he crouched down grabbing her by the waist trying to lift her up.

"Ugh what happened?" Kyou groaned in a half asleep tone of voice.

James grabbed Kyou's shoulders lightly shaking her and tapping her on her cheeks. "Kyou! Wake up!"

Kyou's eye's dilated as soon as she came to her senses and saw who was helping her.

"James..." Kyou gasped "I..."

Flashes of the incident with Victoria and the text from James the previous night now lingered heavily in her mind when she suddenly noticed the humming sound of her motorbikes engine.

"My bike!" Kyou exclaimed turning herself away from James and rushing towards it.

"Never mind the damn bike are you okay?!" James exclaimed as he felt more worried for his friend than a piece of metal that could be replaced.

Kyou felt her left side which had hit the ground hard upon impact. "Little pain in the side but I'll check with the nurse later..." Kyou answered carefully turning the key inside the motorbike, deactivating it.

Kyou sighed as she lifted up the heavy bike back onto the pavement as she checked for damage as she straighter her helmet and her scarf.

"Shit!" The side that had hit the ground was now heavily scratched with bits of rusted silver where the red paint had been and the front on the bike had a huge dent and a smashed headlight.

James looked at the motorbike's damage. "Looks like you'll have to get it repaired..."

Kyou turned her head as her eyes became fixated on James as she grabbed him by the collar. "I know that mister obvious!" She shouted accidentally spitting in his face.

"S-sorry!" James whimpered.

As Kyou looked at James an insane thought suddenly came to mind.

"This'll prove I'm not bi!"

Kyou suddenly kissed James on the lips putting her arms around him hugging him painfully tight as James tried to force her off of him pushing her away.

"K-kyou!" James blushed deep in red "What are you doing?!"

"Kyou's eye's dilated as she blushed a darker shade of red than James immediately regretting her hasty actions as her chest began to hurt from her rapid heartbeat.

"I...I...I..." Kyou's eye's began to water as she quickly ran over to her bike and walk away to where ever it was that Kyou would usually hide it.

"Kyou!" James grabbed her shoulder to try and get her to stop for a moment.

She turned her head still blushing as she looked at him. "Just...just forget about what just happened okay?" Kyou whispered as she walked off.

As much as James wanted to run after Kyou and find out just what exactly was going on he knew that deep down it seemed Kyou needed some alone time.

"Please be okay Kyou..." James clutched his fist as he watched her walk off.

 **To be continued...**

 **Author's note:**

 **Well here's another chapter which I hope you all enjoyed.**

 **Kind of annoyed that I have to clarify this again but the whole Kyou/Tomoyo thing is being developed and I never said that they became a couple at the end of chapter 14.**

 **I also hope you werent too shocked by some of James's antic's in this chapter and there will be some more to come in the next couple chapters :/**

 **Anyway hopfully you'll enjoy the next two chapters and as for when those two will be uplaoded well I have no idea but in case I dont post anything for the next few weeks I just wanna say that I hope you all have a good easter.**

 **Thank you to BuffaloSoldai115 for the usual editing.**


	18. Chapter 17: Breaking Point

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 17: Breaking point.**_

"So you and him...were never really dating?" A dark green haired classmate of Ryou's whispered as she looked at her friend with an intense glare of suspicion.

Ryou rolled her eyes in annoyance as she coloured in her now inked drawing of Botan that she had produced to show James just two days ago while at the same time trying to pay close attention to their teacher during the lesson.

"We're just friends and that's all ok! please just stop asking me!" Ryou clenched her fist in frustration from being asked this question for like the thousandth time as well as her heartbeat painfully increase as it reminded her of her decision to have some time away from James. She liked James very much as a friend in fact more than friends as she had told him in town that he was like a brother to her but all the rumors and speculation were becoming too much to handle and she just couldn't take it anymore thus she decided to remain friend's with him but to keep some distance between them and everytime she thought about that faithful decision it hurt more and more.

The girl still glared at Ryou unconvinced "Whatever you say..." she mumbled under her breath with a light shrug.

"Quiet please!" The teacher called out from the front of the classroom. There was a sudden knock on the door as James stepped inside the classroom out of breath clutching the side of his stomach "S-sorry-" James exhaled deeply as he tried to catch his breath "Sorry that I'm late sir!" The teacher glanced at James uninterested in any sort of excuse that he could give "Just don't let it happen again Walker!"

"Yes sir!" James replied as he walked over to his seat trying to make sure he didn't get in anyone's way of watching whatever it was that the teacher was doing on the black-board for the current lesson. As James sat down he took a deep breath he still had Kyou on his mind.

"Why did she kiss me?" James thought as he glanced outside into the bright cloudy sky watching the bird's fly by as he gazed down to the empty courtyard "There's got to be something wrong here" James mumbled in thought.

" _ **Just...just forget about what just happened ok?**_ "

Those words echoed through his mind.

James glanced at Ryou in the left corner of the room who unlike James was paying very close attention to the teachers word's. James tried as best as he could to not make too much noise as he reached into his bag carefully bringing out his mobile phone quickly sending Ryou a text.

" _Is something wrong with your sister today?_ "

James pressed " _Send_ " on his phone as he placed it back into his bag as he heard the " _vvvrrr_ " sound from Ryou's phone vibrate from her corner of the classroom.

"Whoever has their phone switched on turn it off now or I shall have it!" the teacher exclaimed as Ryou desperately tried to act as if she wasn't the one receiving a text in the middle of a lesson as everyone looked at her.

"Crap sorry Ryou!" James thought embarrassed.

...

Kyou walked through the corridor's on her way to her lesson but was deep in thought about things other than school work. "Why did I kiss James?!" she clenched her fist.

" _ **WHY?!**_ " __Kyou shouted violently slamming her fist into the wall leaving a huge dent. "Ouch!" Kyou murmured looking at her now scraped hand which was cut and bruised in a few places. Rubbing her hand and taking a deep breath Kyou continued her walk to class hoping to take her mind off of James and Tomoyo as well.

" _Vvvrrrr_ " Kyou's phone vibrated as she received a text. She took out the phone from her pocket her eye's widened her cheeks blushed and her heart pounded painfully fast as she saw who it was from.

" _You have one text from James_ "

Kyou gulped as she began to read the text.

 _Kyou are you ok? I know that you didn't mean to do what you did to me just now but I can tell that something is troubling you and if you want to talk to me about it then please do I won't tell anyone besides you said I could come to you for help and advice and I feel you can do the same with me._

Kyou gave a loud sigh as she ran her fingers through her hair "I wish it were that simple James" she murmured as the grip on her phone tightened.

...

Class had ended and James and Ryou were alone. A few of Ryou's classmates had been whispering and pointing at them as they left the classroom much to Ryou's frustration. She glared at James seriously unsure exactly what James meant in his text

"What do you mean is something wrong with my sister today?" she murmured glancing at the classroom door that had been left wide open "Give me a sec" James mumbled noticing Ryou's worried glance as he walked over to the door shutting it and walked back over to her as he inhaled and exhaled a deep breath.

"Ok here's what I mean-"

James explained to Ryou the situation that had occurred between himself and her sister as she listened in disbelief.

"I-I don't believe-" Ryou choked up holding back tears.

"It's true Ryou!" exclaimed "It's all true!"

Without thinking Ryou grabbed James by the collar "If I find out that you're lying-"

"Ryou!" James exclaimed in a frustrated tone of voice over the fact his once close friend didnt believe him "I wouldn't lie about something like that! You and your sister are too important to me for me to just make up crap like that!"

Ryou's grip on his collar hardened as she glared at the floor not wanting to look at him "If you are lying about this then I will **NEVER** forgive you!"

James grasped Ryou's shoulders unintentionally hard as his frustration grew he'd already temporarily lost Ryou as a friend due to the recent rumors and he didn't want to lose her over some misunderstanding between them.

"Ryou I'm not lying for god sake! Now will you please let go of me!" James pushed Ryou aside accidently with a lot of force and before James could catch her in time her back hit the floor with a loud thump and her head quickly followed.

James covered his mouth in shock at what he had just done "Oh my-oh my god Ryou I'm sorry I-"

"My head-" Ryou mumbled in pain as she rubbed the back of her head trying to stand back up "Ryou-" James tried to apologize as he helped her up "I swear I didnt mean to push you it was an accident!"

"I think I need to go to the nurse's office" she whimpered.

"I'll go with you!" he replied as he rushed towards the door.

"No!" Ryou looked at with tear filled eye's.

"But your hur-"

"Just leave me alone ok!" Ryou exclaimed pushing James aside as she opened the door and ran to find the nurse's office as James slapped himself hard in the face "What have I done?!"

...

Inside the lunch room a crowd was gathering for the latest bread. The noise was so loud that you could barely hear yourself think! Kyou just bought herself an orange juice as she quickly fled the lunchroom not wanting to get swept away in the huge crowd. "God it's only bread!" Kyou rolled her eyes as she left the lunchroom and making sure her scarf was tightened.

Throughout the lesson her classmates had been mumbling about why exactly she was wearing a scarf to school but she didn't want anyone to see the marks on her neck and then to ask awkward questions like "Did someone attack you?" or "Did someone try to rape you?" and thankfully her teacher had taken no notice of the scarf and merely scolded Kyou for being late to class for which she had apologized. She'd arrived to class halfway through due to the fact she'd spent half her time trying to hide her heavily damaged motorbike which was now going to need some serious repair.

Kyou walked outside into the courtyard with little fuss as she sat on top an empty bench taking out a small bento lunch box.

As she opened it up she turned her head left and right scanning the courtyard in search of her twin sister "I wonder where Ryou's got to?" Kyou shrugged as she opened up the box placing a pair of chopsticks into her hand. "Maybe if things turn out ok I could have James Ryou and I eat lunch together" Kyou giggled at the thought of the three of them enjoying themselves eating lunch together like some kind of family picnic.

"Hey!" a voice called out.

Kyou felt a chill down her spine as she immediately recognized the voice as Tomoyo's accidently swallowing some food down the wrong way in the process. Kyou gave a loud cough as she spat out a piece of fried fish onto the ground as she gasped for breath taking a sip from her orange juice.

"Are you ok?" Tomoyo ran up to Kyou worriedly.

Kyou glanced at Tomoyo as her face became a deep shade of red and her heart could be faintly heard pounding like crazy.

"Y-yeah" Kyou gave a mumbled reply putting her arms around her waist.

"Do you mind if I sit with you for a moment I-"

"Look!" Kyou glared at Tomoyo as her blushing increased "if its about yesterday then forget about it! Nothing happened Ok!"

Tomoyo gave Kyou a look of disappointment "I see" she mumbled under her breath "You know if that's really the case then I think you should be careful if you're going to mess around with other people's feelings!"

Kyou clutched her chest as she started to find it hard to breath "Go away!" she thought "Just go away please!" As Tomoyo began to walk away she took one last look at Kyou "Besides. you're the one who kissed first and the fact that you're blushing all over makes me think that it wasn't nothing."

As Tomoyo walked off Kyou frantically packed up her bento and ran off further into courtyard hoping to find somewhere to eat in private.

...

James sighed as he walked along the old school building on his way to the first library. He'd decided to check up on Kotomi since he'd not spoken to her at all the previous day and needed someone that he could talk to try and get his mind off of things as his frustrations felt as if they were building up more and more with each passing moment.

"I think she'll be glad to see me" James thought as he removed his flat-cap and scratched his head "I should probably pop into the drama club room too."

As James got nearer to the library he felt his anxiety and frustration build up as he noticed Akira Kishimoto and Tite Tezuka standing beside the walls.

"Ok James just calm down and walk past them!" He thought as he felt a little panicky and proceeded to close his eyes keeping them shut as he walked past them hoping not to be seen.

"Where do you think your going?" James heard Tite exclaim as James began to walk slightly faster. "Get back here!" Akira shouted as James moved further and further up the corridor. He took a few turns through the corridors and could swear he heard the thumping sound of footsteps from behind.

Finally James reached the old library and bolted inside slamming the door. Taking a deep breath as he felt his legs shaking frantically he looked around the room. As usual the place was completely deserted baring the sounds of a few pages being turned frantically.

James walked over to the usual spot in the library and there as he expected was cute little Kotomi engrossed in a text book as always.

James took a moment to observe her reading "She reads so damn fast!" he mumbled in amazement watching her turning the pages of the book every few seconds.

As James crouched down he glanced at her "She's really cute" James chuckled "Bless her heart"

"Kotomi Chan!" James whispered tapping her shoulder lightly.

"oh" Kotomi mumbled in what James could swear was an annoyed tone of voice.

"Kotomi?" James raised an eyebrow

Kotomi put down her book and stared at him her eye's looking deep into his as she frowned at him. James gave a slight gasp under his breath as he felt a shiver down his spine. It was the exact same frown that she had given him in his nightmare. "Is-" James gulped "Is something wrong?" he asked worriedly.

Kotomi slowly stood up from the floor as did James. "Kotomi what's wrong?!" James clenched his fist feeling another burst of frustration coming into play but franticly tried to control it.

"your such a liar!" she exclaimed

"What are you talking about?!" James gasped taking a step backwards suprised at Kotomi's sudden outburst.

"When we spoke the other day in town you said that you would eat lunch with me at school the next day!"

James's mind flashed back to his meeting with Kotomi two days prior:

" _ **Um...t-tomorrow...d-do you...W-want t-to eat lunch together?**_ "

"Oh crap I completely forgot about that!" James exclaimed slapping his forehead.

"I prepared a whole lunch for you and everything!" she shouted "and you didn't even show up!"

James's felt his mind snap as his frustration point finally broke and without thinking he suddenly grabbed Kotomi and slammed her against the wall as his arms painfully held onto her shoulders and began to move upwards towards her throat as if he were about to strangle her.

" _ **Kotomi!**_ " __James gave a faint growl in his voice " _ **I am under enough stress right now as it is!**_ " __He clentched his teeth " _ **I've had Ryou leave me because of some stupid rumors Kyou's been acting strange I've had two imbeciles trying to pick a fight with me and the last thing I need is a silly little girl like you moaning at me because I didn't show up for her damn lunch session!"**_

"James-" Kotomi whimpered as she started shaking in terror and her eye's watering "Your hurting me!" James suddenly came to his senses as he realised what he was doing and quickly let her go.

"I-I-I-" James struggled to find words to try and explain his actions as Kotomi ran behind a bookcase still frightened and shaking rapidly as a faint whimpering sound could be heard.

"I'm so sorry Kotomi!" James whispered as he ran out of the library regretting that he'd let his frustration get the better of him.

 _ **To be continued...**_

 _ **Author's Note:**_

 _ **Well I hope you all liked this chapter and I appologize for not uplaoding for 2 month's. My editor has been busy with other projects and I decided to attempt to edit my chapters on my own using this google drive editing thing.**_

 _ **Please tell me your thought's and let me know if you noticed any more grammar and spelling error's as I have tried to fix them all.**_

 _ **I'm hoping to have chapter 18 uplaoded wednesday so I'll see you all then!**_


	19. Chapter 18: Reprecussions

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 18: Repercussions.**_

James bolted out of the library slamming the doors shut as he left the room he moved his gaze away from the door as he turned around gasping as his body shook violently from what he'd just done slouching down onto the floor covering his face with both his hands. James gave a loud muffled wailing sound as he cried with tears running down his covered face.

"I-" James gulped as his throat began to feel dry "I almost strangled her!" James cried out.

" _ **You're hurting me!**_ "

Kotomi's frightened word's and tearful look haunted him as the memory repeated itself over and over again.

"Things are just getting worse and worse!" James choked up as the flow of tear's increased and he clutched his right fist "I wish I'd never come to this damn school!"

James suddenly felt a light tap on his shoulder.

"Are you ok?" A familiar voice quietly asked him. James removed his hands away from his face and in front of him crouching down in front of him was Nagisa her eye's widened with a look of concern as Okazaki stood beside her also looking concerned although James could not tell from his position.

"N-nagisa-" James choked as he wiped his tears with his sleeve as he slowly got back onto his feet "I-I'm sorry I just-"

"You ok man?" Okazaki asked placing his hand on James's shoulder. "It's nothing!" James unconvincingly tried to reassure them "Really it's nothing!" he took a deep breath as he thought franticly to try and change the subject "Um-" he mumbled "How's the drama club doing?"

Nagisa gave a look of defeat on her face as she glanced away from the James and looked at the ground giving a faint sigh "The school council took all my poster's down" Nagisa whimpered trying not to burst out crying. James covered his mouth in disbelief "I'm sorry Nagisa" he said to her in a muffled voice.

Nagisa shook her head frantically "It's not your fault Walker" Nagisa mumbled "Those poor Dango's! They never hurt anyone!"

"Let's discuss this in the drama club room" Okazaki intervened placing his hands on Nagisa's shoulders as he walked her back to the drama club room with James following behind.

...

Kyou sat on the school roof trying frantically to finish her lunch in time before the bell rang while trying to avoid choking indigestion or heartburn pain. "I just don't know what to do!" Kyou thought franticly as she gulped down some smoked salmon with eggs rice and seaweed.

" _Vvvrrr_ " Kyou's mobile phone vibrated much to her surprise as she accidentally choked quickly slamming her fist on her chest as she gulped down some green tea before placing her bento box and mug onto the ground as she reached into her front pocket and checked her phone.

" _ **You have one message from Ryou**_ "

Kyou raised an eyebrow unsure why her little sister was texting her at this moment in time. Usually she'd be hanging out with her friend's or having some sort of class leader session with the teachers she shrugged it off as she pressed some of the buttons on her phone as her face turned to a look of horror as she saw the text.

" _ **Need to talk to you about James in private later**_ "

Kyou stared at the text for several minutes until the familiar sound of the bell rang out across the school surprising her and instantly proceeded to place her phone back inside her pocket and pack up what was left of her lunch as she walked towards the door that led back down to the inside of the school without speaking or muttering a word to herself.

...

Inside the drama club room Okazaki Nagisa and James were sat around a table with a pile of what were essentially " _vandalised_ " poster's for the drama club. The posters which were covered in dango's painted in very vibrant colours now had a large _**X**_ painted on the poster in red. James gave an annoyed sigh as he rolled his eye's "This school's school council really sound like a bunch of assholes!" James grumbled under his breath.

Nagisa gasped and franticly looked around as if to make sure they weren't being overheard "Y-you can't say things like that!" she exclaimed in an exaggerated childish tone of voice.

"Well it's true!" Okazaki and James replied at the exact same time much to their amusement. "So what's the plan now? James scratched his head.

"Um..." Nagisa thought hard "Well we can't put up anymore posters so-"

"Maybe actually try _asking_ people to join?" James suggested as he interrupting her.

 _ **Ding Dong Dang Dong**_

The bell loudly rang out across the school interrupting the conversation before Nagisa had a chance to answer.

"We'll discuss the situation later" Okazaki sighed as he began to make his way back to class leaving the drama club as James and Nagisa followed.

"O-oh ok!" Nagisa stuttered trying to act confident clentching her fist's.

"Sure thing!" James nodded shutting the door behind him.

"I'll see you guys later ok!" Nagisa shouted as she ran down the corridor on the way to her next class. James gave a deep sigh as he glanced at Okazaki.

"So what have we got next?" He asked in an exhausted tone of voice.

"PE" Okazaki quickly replied.

"Ah crap I hate sports" he grumbled under his breath "You'll have to show me where the changing rooms are ok?"

"Sure thing" Okazaki replied giving James a look of concern "Look man..did something happen earlier?"

James gave another muttered grumbled as he glanced at the ground "Look it's fine it's not important ok!"

"Alright alright calm down!" Okazaki looked on shocked at James's outburst.

James gave an annoyed sigh as he began to walk down the corridor "Let's just get going ok!"

Okazaki followed behind him without another word and as James passed the doors to the old library he felt a horrible chill come down his spine. "I've got to apologize to her!" he thought hard clutching his fists in determination "I've got too!"

...

Okazaki soon showed James where to change for PE as well as finding some spare PE uniforms and they soon headed out towards the school ground's. There was a large group gathered around the middle of the field surrounding the PE teacher Akio Itou. James himself was near the back of the crowd while Okazaki seemed to have disappeared and Sunohara was nowhere to be found at all. He kept his eye's peeled for Ryou just to know that she was a least alright and attempt to apologize again for her making her hit her head when suddenly there was the ear piercing sound of a whistle as James covered his ears with his fingers.

"Listen up all of you!" Akio exclaimed as everyone immediately stopped gossiping to each other and James sprang to attention like a soldier in the military. "We're going to be doing a run around the field today! Now I want all of you to stretch your arms and legs so you won't pull any muscles! hop to it!"

James instantly began to stretch his arms and legs as far as he could but the other students seemed to be taking the exercise less seriously. The ear piercing sound of the whistle rang out again as everyone looked at Akio "Now all of you get your asses moving!" he exclaimed as everyone hurriedly began to run across the long field.

"Except _you_!" he shouted pointing his finger at James as he started to run but quickly stopped to a screeching halt accidently slipping head first into the ground as he heard a few chuckles from some of the students. "Ugh" James groaned as his right knee was in pain from the impact of hitting the ground but not enough damage to get him out of running as he slowly rose up wiping the dirt away from his face as he ran over to the teacher. As he got closer the teacher turned his head and pointed to some of the other runners "Fujibayashi come over here!"

"Ah crap!" James thought worriedly about how Ryou would act around him after the incident before "C-coming sir!" James heard Ryou shout from the field not wanting to look at her until she came over "What's your name again kid?" The teacher asked with a raised eyebrow not noticing James's anxiety's

J-james Walker sir!" James responded accidentally stuttering "mm-hmm" the teacher mumbled to himself as he tilted his head slightly as he nodded in response.

James heard the rustling of the grass and the gasps of exhaustion from Ryou as he glanced up in her direction as she ran up to the teacher stopping to catch her breath clutching her chest as it rapidly rose up and down which was rather noticeable as her uniform was at least one size too small and James quickly pulled his glance away trying not to stare at her body and particularly her breasts "Don't look at her James!" He thought to himself "Don't look at her body!"

"Y-yes sir?" Ryou gasped "I would like you and mister Walker here-" Akio gestured his hand over to James as Ryou glanced away from him blushing lightly "To collect some obstacle equipment for the next lap!"

"Yes sir!" they both nodded mumbling in response.

"Head off to the gym storage equipment at once" Hop to it!" He ordered in a military fashion as he clicked his fingers to the left indicating the way to the gym storage room.

"Yes sir!" they both shouted as they bolted to the gym storage room.

...

After several minutes the duo arrived at the gym storage room. It was quite a far distance from the field and they would both have to carry heavy objects back and fourth meaning they'd probably miss half the lesson anyway. The storage room itself was an averaged sized hut filled with PE mat's basketball's baseball bats cricket bats footballs _etc._

James and Ryou hadnt spoken to each other at all in the several minutes it had taken to arrive there merely running side by side glancing at each other. James cleared his throat accidently making Ryou jump with the sudden breaking of the silence "So" he paused as he glanced at her nervously "what do we need to get?"

"Um-" Ryou struggled to speak "T-the cones!" she stuttered. James clapped his hands ready to get to work "Right let's get this over with!" he exclaimed "We should be able to take three each how many do you think the teacher wants?"

"Twelve at the most" Ryou murmured as she started biting her nails.

"Ok" James mumbled as they entered the gym storage room picked up three cones and passed them to Ryou who slowly took them from James.

"The teacher really should have gotten at least four people to do this job!" They both thought.

As they left the storage room rather slowly due to the weight of the cones James glanced at Ryou "So-" he gulped nervously "You ok?"

"yeah" she groaned as she tried to keep hold of the cones "These cones are just a bit heavy that's all!" she chuckled nervously

James gave a sigh of annoyance knowing that Ryou was trying to avoid the subject "You know what I'm talking about Ryou."

Ryou gave a nervous glance "Yes. I went to the first-aid and they just put an ice pack on my head. There wasn't any real injury just a little scrape"

James felt relieved upon hearing that although still rather uneasy "Look I-I didn't mean to hurt you it really was an accident!"

Ryou shook her head slightly in response "I believe you James" she gave a nervous grin "It's more my fault I got too frustrated and physical with you" she suddenly felt her eyes becoming watery "B-b-b" Ryou stuttered struggling to speak as she suddenly had a catch in her throat.

"Because of all the rumors I know" James interrupted in a sympathetic tone of voice "and what I told you about your sister but let me assure you-" he grasped her shoulder trying to comfort her as he struggled to keep the cones balanced with just one hand "what I told you did happen but if you want to just leave the situation as it is then I can understand"

"I do believe you James" she mumbled trying to wipe her eyes with her arm "It's just I don't understand why sis would do something like that" she took a deep breath as she tried her best not to cry "I haven't spoken to her about it yet but I will hopefully tonight"

"Just try to make sure your sister doesn't try to strangle me or something after she finds out I told you" he murmured nervously.

"I won't let her hurt you!" Ryou exclaimed as she turned her head in James's direction clutching her fists with a frown of determination much to his surprise "Never!" Her face and James's suddenly both became a light shade of pink as they glanced away from each other nervously.

"C-changing the subject but-" James stuttered "Why is your sister wearing a scarf today?"

Ryou looked at James with a puzzled expression "I've not seen her at all today but that does sound odd-"Ryou raised an eyebrow thinking "She only wears those in the winter-"

"It's probably nothing" James shrugged cutting her off "Although it's a bit dangerous to be riding on her-oh crap!" James exclaimed slapping his hand on his mouth dropping the cones in the process as he remembered Kyou's accident and the damaged it has caused on the motorbike. "W-what is it?" Ryou exclaimed shocked at James's suddenly outburst "Nothing nothing nothing!" James exclaimed in a panicky voice extremly fast as he collected the cones back into his arms.

"hehehe" Ryou gave a small chuckle of laughter as James raised an eyebrow "What's so funny?" Ryou suddenly began to laugh louder while becoming red in the face "You're so funny James!" she chuckled loudly before stopping to breath and calm herself down but then James began to laugh too"Oh god!" he chuckled "You've got me doing it now!" he quickly tried to force his mouth shut with his hand and to stop laughing.

" _Oh I've missed hanging around with him!_ " Ryou thought as she watched James as he tried to stop laughing as she felt a tingling feeling inside her. Even though only a day had passed since Ryou had decided to not hang out with James she already deeply missed spending time with him. He was like a brother that she'd never had but at the same time she would wonder if she really did have any other sort of feelings for James but she knew deep down that for the time being she couldn't hang out with him because the rumor's of them being a couple would continue to grow and grow and she didn't want that but she also knew that she was thinking more about herself than her friendship with James.

"C-come on" Ryou stuttered trying to act serious "We'd better hurry up with these item's otherwise the teacher is going to scold us"

"Yeah sure!" James nodded as he finally stopped laughing.

Taking a deep breath James felt his cheeks become warm as he blushed a dark shade of red glancing at Ryou's body "D-don't-" he gulped nervously as Ryou turned her head head in his direction "What?" she asked puzzled.

D-don't take this the wrong way but-" James gulped nervously as his blushing increased "The PE uniform looks cute on you" he murmured biting his lower lip.

Ryou gasped in shocked as her face blushed a very dark shade of red as her heart began to pound rapidly "N-no it doesn't!" she exclaimed in an embarassed high pitched tone of voice.

The two didn't talk after that and quickly went back and forth with bringing over the equipment and unfortunately James and Ryou were unable to take part in the activities and soon went their separate ways to change back into their school uniforms.

...

James gave an exhausted sigh as he walked along the corridor towards the drama club room with Kotomi still lingering in his mind "I guess I'll take this opportunity to apologize" James thought as he clutched his fist's. He hated himself for hurting Kotomi the way he did he could tell just from only vaguely knowing her in the span of a few days throughout the week that she was a delicate individual who could break down easily and an overwhelming fear of becoming a victim of bullying and James had acted like the exact type of people that she feared.

"I must apologize to her!" James mumbled under his breath.

"Give her more time!" he grumbled in reply

"Just stop talking to her you idiot!" he replied to himself again.

 _ **Twak!**_ James slapped himself hard in the face "I really need to stop talking to myself " he grumbled to himself ironically "That's supposed to be a sign on insanity right?"

...

After several more minutes of walking James finally reached the door's leading to the old library. Taking a deep breath he removed his flat-cap closed his eye's and grabbed the door handle "Just keep calm James!" he mumbled to himself "Just keep calm!"

Slowly opening the door he stepped inside the library and as usual the library was filled with dead silence "Hope she's here" James thought thinking about the time he found Kotomi crying her eye's out and then later was nowhere to be found. He looked around and finally found Kotomi engrossed in reading as alway's. "Hmm maybe I should just leave a note telling her I'm sorry?" James immediately shook his head dismissing the idea as he tapped her on the shoulder "Kotomi-Chan!"

There was a small gasp from Kotomi as she instantly dropped her book turned in James's direction her eyes beginning to water and dilate as her breathing started to sound shaky and she proceeded to give James a light punch in the nose which had no strength in it at all "K-kotomi!" James stuttered in shock at Kotomi's pathetic attempt to attack him as she proceeded to grab her book and whack James in the head with it hard. _**Twack!**_ James felt the painful feeling of the large hardback book struck the top of his head "Argh!" James groaned in pain as he began to feel slightly dizzy "Kotomi what are you-"

"J-james!" she exclaimed cutting him off and quickly standing up "P-p-please don't hurt me! I warn you I'm really strong!" she proceeded to give weak punches in the air as James stood up beside her watching her shaking and hearing her whimpering. He couldn't believe he'd caused her to act like this "W-what have I done?!" James mumbled putting his hand over his mouth in shock.

"So please dont-dont-dont-" Kotomi's voice started to become hard to understand as she began to break down crying and without thinking and without realising it James suddenly put his arm's around her hugging her tightly and stroked the back of her head "I'm so sorry Kotomi!" James apologized in a muffled voice as his eye's started to water "I'm so sorry!"

"Why am I hugging her?" James thought as his mind raced to find an answer "I hardly know this girl! If I were hugging Ryou like this it would make sense but why-" "James-" Kotomi whimpered in a raspy sounding voice "I can't breath" James suddenly realized that he was hugging her rather too tightly and quickly let go of her "S-sorry" James mumbled still shaken up as Kotomi rubbed her waist taking deep breath's.

"Kotomi I-" James grasped Kotomi's shoulders looking into her eye's which were now a light red colour and still looking watery "I want to make it up to you please!"

Kotomi looked at James deep in thought as her body shook violently "I-"

"You know what!-" James exclaimed interrupting her "How about after school we walk around town and I treat you to dinner? It's the least I can do for missing your lunch session!"

Kotomi still looked at James unsure "I'll-I'll think about it" she mumbled.

James took a deep breath as he began to leave the library "I'll let you get on with that" he mumbled "See you later Ok?" James turned his head to look at her but she just stared at him still clearly afraid and shaking.

"I'm an idiot!" James thought as he clutched his fist's in frustration over his actions earlier.

...

James gave a loud sigh as he walked towards the drama club room and loudly knocked on the door four times "Come in!" Okazaki shouted his voice sounding slightly muffled through the door. James grasped the door handle and slid the door open waving as he greeted Okazaki and Nagisa as they sat around the table as usual "Hey guy's!" he exclaimed giving a fake grin Nagisa immediately gave a look on concern as she looked into James's eyes as he walked over and sat beside them.

"Have you been crying again Walker?" Nagisa asked worriedly.

"Hmm?" James hummed in response not entirely sure what Nagisa meant.

"It's-it's just your eye's look really red and watery" she mumbled in response as James took out his phone trying to see his reflection.

"Is it's those football players again?" Okazaki asked as Nagisa looked at Okazaki with a puzzled expression "Football players?"

James cleared his throat "yeah I got beaten up by a couple of imbeciles from the football club yesterday" James sighed in annoyance "But-"

" _ **Why would they do that?!**_ " Nagisa exclaimed in a childish tone of voice as she stood up from her chair franticly waving her arm's around. "Calm down" Okazaki mumbled rolling his eyes as he slowly stood up put his hand's on Nagisa's shoulders and sat her back down. "I'll give you a simple answer Furukawa" James grunted "They're idiotic bullies who hate themselves and take out their anger and frustration on the weak and the pathetic members of the human race"

Nagisa and Okazaki just stared at James in shock after his little statement. "But it wasn't because of those two that I've been upset!" James quickly tried to reassure them breaking the silence "I got a little violent with someone and had to apologize them." James sighed as his stomach tingled with anxiety from having to go over the situation with people when he wanted it kept to himself.

"Who the hell did you upset?" Okazaki murmured still in shock "It wasn't-"

"No it wasn't Ryou!" James interrupted "It was somebody else now can we please just change the damn subject!" James grumbled clutching his fist and gritting his teeth as his voice was starting to become a demonic growl.

James took a few deep breaths to try to calm himself down "Ok!" he gasped "Just tell me what your doing with the drama club right now?"

"W-w-w-well-" Nagisa stuttered still in shock "We're still trying to recruit members!" Okazaki interrupted sensing Nagisa's struggle. "We've asked certain people and they're either not interested or too busy"

"Argh" James grumbled facepalming himself "f***k me!" while running his hand down his face he looked at Nagisa with a frown "No offence Furukawa but I am starting to think that this whole reviving of the drama club thing is a lot cause"

Nagisa gave a slight gasp as her eye's widened "Do-" Nagisa sniffled slightly "Do you think that's true?"

"Don't tell her that! Okazaki grunted to James. "Look!" James exclaimed feeling the frustration boiling up again "The only people that seem interested are the three of us and I'm really only helping you cause I've got nothing to do!"

Okazaki suddenly slammed his fist onto the table "You know you can be a right asshole sometimes you know that?!"

James stood up and tried his best to keep hold of his right fist which now had all his anger and frustration built into it "Do you wanna take this outside?!" James shouted "Cause I'll knock your damn light's out you pathetic imbecile!"

" _ **WILL BOTH OF YOU PLEASE STOP FIGHTING!**_ "

Okazaki and James both turned their heads looking at Nagisa. She was now covering her ears her eyes tearing up and making childish grunting sounds.

"Oh god not again!" James thought realizing that he was doing to Nagisa exactly what he'd done to frighten poor Kotomi.

"Look" James sighed "I'm sorry I just-I've been frustrated and I apologize! James bowed his head "Are you sure there isnt anyone else who might at all be interested?"

"Well maybe the freshmen since they're new to the school but I don't know a lot of them" Nagisa mumbled

"Freshman eh?" James mumbled to himself

"I think I know somebody who would be interested-"

 _ **DING DONG DANG DONG**_

"And I'll have to get back to you on that!" Okazaki grumbled in annoyance at being interrupted by the bell.

"Sure" James and Nagisa nodded.

They all quickly left the room and went on their way's to their classrooms.

...

James and Okazaki walked side by side without muttering a word to each other until Okazaki gave an exhausted sigh "Look man" he glanced at James and James glanced at Okazaki "I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier.

"No no no it was my fault!" James reassured him "I became arrogant and said things that shouldn't have been said" James glanced down at the floor ashamed of his actions "Honestly if you had punched me I would have deserved it."

"Don't talk like that man" Okazaki quickly replied as they entered the classroom "We all get frustrated you know? You just need to learn to keep your cool!"

"Hhmm I guess" James shrugged as he sat down in his chair and gazed outside the window. He glanced in the reflection of the window and could see Ryou glancing at him from the other side of the classroom.

" _Vvvrrrr_ " James's phone suddenly vibrated from inside his pocket as he quickly opened it up.

" _You have one message from Ryou_ "

James glanced in her direction as he opened up the file and read the text.

" _Still haven't spoken to sis. Forgot to tell you this earlier but I'm really relieved that you're ok after what happened with the football players yesterday and I still can't help but feel like I am to blame for what happened_ "

" _PS: Thanks for the compliment during PE earlier_ "

James blushed thinking about the bold statement that he'd told Ryou earlier.

" _ **Don't take this the wrong way but the PE uniform looks cute on you!**_ "

"Never say anything like that again you pervert!" James thought to himself still blushing from embarrassment as he read the last paragraph of the message.

" _I think your sideburns look cute_ "

James felt his cheeks becoming a deeper shade of red and glanced at Ryou who chuckled to herself in the corner.

" _Vvvrrr_ " James's phone vibrated again as a new text appeared below the previous one.

" _Really wish you could see your blushing face right now!_ "

James quickly proceeded to write a response back.

" _Hahaha very funny Ryou! But in all seriousness don't worry about yesterday it wasn't your fault I just got a little frustrated! Really it was my own fault_ "

" _PS: Also I think you should look into getting a PE uniform that fits you better cause your-_ "

James felt his blushing increase at what he was writing.

" _Your "you know what's" stick out rather noticeably and some pervert could try and touch you there if you're not too careful. I don't wanna sound like a pervert but the idea of someone groping you does worry me_ "

James sent the text feeling rather embarrassed that he'd mention the PE uniform "She's gonna think I'm a complete pervert" James thought as he facepalmed himself.

" _Vvvrrr_ "

" _Don't worry James you dont sound like a pervert at all you just sound like someone who is worried about his friend or should I say sister that he never had. And yeah I've been meaning to get a new PE uniform for a while cause it is a little embarrassing_ "

"Right everyone shut up and pay attention!" exclaimed the teacher as he walked into the room with a rather tired and annoyed look on his face and James quickly put away his phone as the lesson began.

...

After what felt like hours the lesson had finally ended and it was time to go home. As everyone began to exit from their seat's James was about to walk over to Ryou to try and talk to her when suddenly she was being surrounded by four student's.

"Fujibayashi can you please read our fortunes?" One person asked.

"Please! Another exclaimed "We've heard that you're meant to be really good at it!

"W-well" Ryou stuttered blushing lightly "Fortune telling is my hobby after all"

James gave a light sigh "well so much for talking to Ryou!"

James suddenly felt a hand grasp his shoulder lightly and quickly turned his head seeing that it was Okazaki "Come on man we'd better find Furukawa and then hopefully find the freshmen I'm thinking of"

...

James and Okazaki quickly found Nagisa and looked around the school to find the freshman that Okazaki had described.

"She's got brownish green hair yellow eyes is really short and is usually carving a block of wood"

This was the description James had to go on in case any of them spotted her as they walked along the corridor's.

The girl's name was Fuko but that was all Okazaki and Nagisa knew having only seen her briefly a couple times in very bizarre scenario's and James felt that the description sounded familiar.

...

After half an hour of looking Okazaki came to a sudden stop much to the surprise of James and Nagisa.

"That's her!" he exclaimed pointing inside a classroom.

"Hmm?" James hummed to himself as they moved closer towards the door and into the room and there in the corner of the classroom was the girl James had briefly met just a few days before and received the strange star carving from. "So her name's Fuko huh?" James thought to himself as he watched her in full concentration at carving the block of wood into the shape of a star.

"Hey your still here" Okazaki called over to Fuko as all three of them stood by the door "Oh weird guy" Fuko mumbled in response keeping her eye's on carving the wood "Hello" Nagisa bowed her head "I'm Nagisa Furukawa of Class 3B" "And I'm James Walker" James introduced himself as he removed his flat-cap and bowed.

Fuko turned her head glancing at the three of them with a serious frown on her face "How do you do" she nodded slightly.

The three of them proceeded to walk over to Fuko who quickly went back to carving the block of wood as she listened to them talk. As James looked upon the table he saw that Fuko had already carved half a dozen stars and gave a whistle of surprise "How many of these does she make?" James mumbled under his breath.

"Fuko do you happen to have any interest in acting?" Nagisa asked curiously with a glimmer of hope shining through her eye's.

"Interest in acting?" Fuko mumbled as she continued to carve.

"The drama club is recruiting members and your a sophomore. You haven't joined a club yet right?" Okazaki asked

"I'm very busy I don't have time for school club activities!" Fuko responded still concentrating on carving. "Oh come on Fuko" Okazaki grumbled "You're not making those things all day and all night are you?"

"I do this from morning to night" Fuko mumbled as Okazaki and James looked at her in disbelief "right through right here!"

"Well you could carve star's from the drama club?" James asked as Okazaki waved his hand over him signaling him to be quiet.

"You say that but you go home everyday don't you?"

"I'm always in school"

"Jesus christ" James mumbled as Nagisa gave a gasp of shock from Fuko's response

"Don't give me that you have to go home sometime you know" Okazaki replied with a sense of disbelief in his voice.

"But I'm not lying!" Fuko exclaimed "I don't go home I'm always at school!"

"There's something wrong here" James thought as he saw a glint of sadness in Fuko's eye's.

"There's no reason to go home" Fuko mumbled as her hands shook slightly

They all stared at Fuko worriedly and like James Okazaki and Nagisa could sense that something was wrong perhaps sinister about this

"Did you run away from home?" Nagisa asked.

Fuko placed her carving knife onto the table and looked at the three of them with an expression of sadness "To be honest with you I can't really tell you why I'm here" she mumbled as if confused "On the way home from school during the entrance ceremony I was almost hit by a car and before I knew it I was here at the school"

"Hit by a car?" Okazaki mumbled.

"What the heck is going on with this girl?!" James thought furiously scratching his head.

"If I may ask you what would your last name be?" Nagisa asked

"It's Ibuki. Fuko Ibuki" Fuko responded as she returned to carving the star.

"Miss Ibuki's younger sister?"

Fuko gave a gasp of shock as she looked at Nagisa her eye's widening with joy as she dropped the star and carving knife and tugged at Okazaki's uniform. "Okazaki this girl is someone who know's my big sister!" she exclaimed with the sound of joy in her voice

James felt his head spin as he tried to listen and figure out what was happening.

"Oh yeah come to think of it you're a repeater" Okazaki mumbled turning his head to Nagisa as she nodded "Yes Miss Ibuki was my art teacher but-" Nagisa paused as she glanced at Fuko and then to Okazaki and James "I need to tell you both something in private for a second. James and Okazaki nodded as they walked towards the door as Nagisa looked at them seriously and Fuko returned to carving the star. "Her sister got into an accident and has been hospitalised ever since" Nagisa whispered to them as James looked at Fuko still trying to wrap his head over what exactly was occurring. "She came to buy pastries the other day and said she'd been to the hospital to visit her sister."

"I-" James mumbled as he tugged his fringe "I don't understand any of this!"

"Have either of you heard of the ghost of the girl that supposedly haunts this school after she died in a car accident?" James gave a loud gasp as a chill ran down his spine and turned his attention back to Fuko. "It couldn't be-" Okazaki mumbled staring at Fuko curiously. "I'm sorry I've got to go!" James mumbled as he walked through the door.

"Walker!" Nagisa gasped "Where are you going?" Okazaki exclaimed. "I'm sorry but this is just too much! Ghost's and and all this other stuff it's just too damn much I'm sorry!" James exclaimed as he ran down the corridor.

"I know I should help them out with whatever's going on with that girl but-it all sounds too damn crazy!"

...

James ran all the way back to the entrance to the school library completely out of breath. He clutched his chest as he wheezed loud gasping as his chest made a thumping sound with every breath of exhaustion and his legs felt like they had a lot of heavy weight to them. He'd decided to check on Kotomi hoping that she'd taken up his offer to go to town with him as an apology for missing their lunch session and abusing her. He opened the door and stepped inside being greeted by the echo's of James's gasp's of exhaustion and crossed his fingers as he walked over to Kotomi's usual spot and there she was as always engrossed in a book and James slowly bent down and sat beside her.

"K-" James coughed loudly trying to catch his breath "Kotomi-chan!" Kotomi stopped reading and glanced at James staring at him with a look of worry. "H-hello James" Kotomi greeted him as she shook slightly.

"So do you want to walk around town?" James asked looking at the worry in her eye's "As I said I really want to make it up to you for what I did" His voice became a slight whisper as the look of regret could be see through his eye's.

Kotomi nodded "Yes I'd like that" she slowly stood up and brushed off her skirt "Can you just give me a few minutes to pack away my thing's?"

"Sure" James nodded slowly standing up "I'll wait outside" James began to make his way towards the door turning his head and glancing at Kotomi as she packed her things away "I really hope I can make it up to that poor girl" James clutched his fist's in anger as he thought about his treatment of her earlier in the day.

" _ **You're hurting me!**_ "

Those words of frightened panic still haunted him as his anxiety pain's began to surface. Taking a deep breath he opened the door and stepped outside.

" _Ack!_ " James choked suddenly feeling a hand painfully gripping his throat and feeling his feet being lifted off the ground and slammed against the wall. "Well look who it is" a familiar voice chuckled with a growl of delight. James could see that was being picked on by the two football players from the previous day _Akira Kishimoto_ and _Tite Tezuka_.

"Can't breath!" James choked in a painful sounding voice

"Thought you could get away from us eh?" Tite snorted "Punch him Kishimoto!" Akira put his fist a few inches away from the direction of James's face "No one's gonna save you this time!"

There was suddenly the noise of the door opening as Kotomi stepped out and saw James in distress giving a gasp of shock and shaking rapidly.

"L-leave him alone!" She mumbled looking at them as they glanced at Kotomi in annoyance "Run Kotomi!" James thought as he started to feel lightheaded "I don't want you to get hurt!"

"Get lost!" Tite exclaimed as he spat at Kotomi's feet.

"I said leave him alone!" she shouted as she started to shake and breath heavily. Akira suddenly dropped James who coughed and spluttered gasping for breath as his body hit the floor "D-don't!" James wheezed as his vision blurred in and out and he struggled to regain balance feeling dizzy. Akira and Tite towered above Kotomi as they grinned at her laughing under their breath "What'd you say?"

Kotomi took a few steps back shaking violently as her eyes began to water as Akira and Tite slowly walked closer and Akira grabbed Kotomi by the collar.

" _ **NO!**_ " James thought franticly as attempted to help Kotomi. He quickly pushed aside Akira and put himself in front of Kotomi to protect her.

" _ **DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!**_ "

James's voiced echoed through the corridor as Akira and Tite looked at James in complete shock and disbelife. Kotomi put her hand's on James's shoulder's her whole body still shaking "Thank you" she mumbled lightly blushing.

"Come on Kotomi!" James exclaimed wanting to get away from the two bullies as quickly as possible grabbing Kotomi's hand making her blush even more and her heart raced as they ran through the corridor.

 _ **To be continued**_

 _ **Authors note:**_

 _ **Well as usual hope you all enjoyed and I appolgize if this chapter was a little long. The next chapter is a LOT longer but I'm sure you'll all enjoy!**_

 _ **I have to ask you people at times in the story do some of the characters (Mainly Okazaki Ryou and Nagisa) act a little too out of character?**_

 _ **Chapter 19 should hopfully be uplaoded on Saturday!**_


	20. Chapter 19: Getting to know her

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 19: Getting to know her.**_

James and Kotomi were standing outside of the school by the cherry blossom tree's as student's walked past on their way home not taking much notice of the two. They violently gasped for breath as they clutched their chests still holding each other's hands tightly.

"A-a-a" Kotomi wheezed gulping trying to get the word's out of her mouth as she cleared her throat "Are we far enough yet?"

James still gasping tried his best to reply "S-should be!" he gasped clearing his throat "G-give me a second to catch my breath!"

They walked over to one of cherry blossom tree's and sat beneath it's branches under the dark shade. In exhaustion James took off his flat-cap and tried to cool himself down by using it as a fan rapidly waving it in the air in his direction. Kotomi was sitting rather close next to him so close in fact that he could hear her still gasping and the thumping echo of her heartbeat.

"Kotomi" James spoke in a soft tone of voice as he looked at her placing his hand on her shoulder "What were you thinking?!"

Kotomi looked at James puzzled "huh?"

James tried to keep his frustration level to a low as to not frighten her again "Don't " _huh_ " me you know what I'm talking about! Getting those two imbeciles to stop bullying me you almost got hurt! They-they could have really harmed you in some way!"

Kotomi glanced at the ground as she blushed a very light shade of red that James couldn't see in the light "But-but you're my friend James"

"What?" James mumbled as his eye's widened raising an eyebrow

"I said you're my friend James" she mumbled as she started to play with her hair slightly "I don't like bullies or for that matter a friend of mine being a victim of one. When I was a young child the other kids would always bully me because I would do things differently and no one ever helped me out whenever I was in a bad situation like that and I don't want anyone else to go through that sort of experience" A glint of sadness seemed to fill her eyes as she stopped talking and she clutched her fist.

"I-I'm sorry" James mumbled.

"It's fine" Kotomi gave a mumbled response.

James patted Kotomi on the head making her heart race even more frantically her face blushing a slightly darker shade of red "Just don't do that again ok?" he whispered softly to her "You're the last person that I wanna see get hurt by people like them"

After that there was an awkward silence from the two until James began to stand up "Come on!" James smiled gesturing his hand towards her "Let's go around town for a few hours" "Sure!" Kotomi gave a light chuckle as she grasped James hand as he pulled her up and searched his pockets with his other hand. "Well I suppose first we could go to-" James franticly searched through his pockets only to find that they and his other pockets were empty!

"Shit!" James exclaimed much to Kotomi's shock "I think my wallet's back at the flat!" Kotomi frowned at James as she looked at him "James there's no need to use such foul language like that!" "Sorry" James mumbled embarrassed since that was the sort of thing his mother would tell him "Look I need to pop back down to my flat to get my wallet is that ok?"

"Sure" Kotomi nodded as they started to walk

"Hang on a sec!" James suddenly thought in panic "That's going to sound odd taking a girl I barely know into my own home just to get some cash! Granted that's the truth but for all she could know I could take her home and rape her or something!"

James glanced at Kotomi worriedly "I'm not sure if she's stupid or naive but she seem's to trust me nevertheless. That worry's me a little.."

They continued for walking without another word for the next few minutes until they noticed someone running around the bushes frantically as if searching for something. The person seemed familiar to James. The person had a feminine face brownish yellow eyes blond hair that stuck up all over the place a green jacket greyish blue trousers brown shoes and carrying a bag over himself.

"Oh man" the person mumbled to himself "Where did it fall to?"

"Hang on" James thought trying to think "Haven't I seen this person before?"

Kotomi looked at James puzzled "Do you know this person James?" she whispered

"Shhh be quiet a moment!" James whispered as the person gave an exhausted sigh

"Hey!" James called out to the person who turned their head over to his direction "Oh it's you!" they mumbled with a look of surprise "The one who helped me in Okinawa!"

"Um..what?" James stood back in confusion as he raised an eyebrow.

"Eh? Maybe Tochiki?"

"No"

"Tottori?"

"Also no"

"Argh!" The person suddenly shrieked making James and Kotomi jump as well as Kotomi putting her arm's around James and shaking slightly. "It's allright Kotomi" James mumbled to her in a soft tone of voice "Jesus Christ calm down you're scaring my friend here!" "It's because I don't know who you are!" The person shrieked making Kotomi cling onto James even harder making him feel rather uncomfortable as her breasts pressed up against his arm.

"Um..um a-a K-kotomi could you please um s-step back a little!" James mumbled nervously blushing a dark red "Y-you're a little too close to me and I mean _too close_!"

Kotomi gave an unformatable moan as she stepped away from James still clinging to his arm.

"I'm looking for something right now" The person interrupted "If you have business I'd like for you and your girlfriend to bother me afterwards!"

James and Kotomi both gasped blushing heavily "S-she's n-not my girlfriend!" James stuttered as he felt his heart pound "Help me out here woman!" James grumbled to Kotomi in an annoyed whisper. "He-he's n-not my boyfriend!" She gulped blushing a shade of red that was darker than Ryou's blushing.

"A-anyway w-what are you looking for?" James stuttered.

"An important paper" the person grumbled

James's mind suddenly hit a light bulb as he remembered the incident the day before. "Argh!" James exclaimed "I know you you're the guy Kyou ran over with her motorbike!" James felt a shiver run down his spine as he thought about Kyou.

" _ **Just-just forget about what happened ok?**_ "

"What the hell's going on with her?" James mumbled to himself deep in thought for several moments until he felt a tap on his head "W-what?" James gasped as he glanced at Kotomi "James this person was asking you something" she mumbled as she pointed at the person.

"Oh! Um...sorry I uh g-got caught up in thought for a moment!" James chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "I was saying you were the guy I spoke to before I ran off for my interview!" the person exclaimed before giving a look of sadness "But then I lost my resume"

"I have it in my bag!" James exclaimed as he put his hand into his bag "You dropped it in the confusion!"

"Is that so" The person smiled as James brought out the resume and passed it over to the person "here"

"Ah thank you!" the person smiled as they took the resume and chuckled "I had that job interview shortly after but since I lost my resume it didn't go so well. I guess something like that is important after all!"

"I'm sorry to hear that" Kotomi mumbled.

"Don't worry it's fine!" The person chuckled "I should thank _him_!" the person put their hand on James's shoulder.

"N-no really you don't have to-"

"Not at all! Showing your gratitude is most important! It's not something the eye can reliably see as it show's good faith!"

James looked at the person puzzled sort of understanding what they were talking about but at the same time not.

"The truth is giving money or something the person likes to eat could be quite cool"

"N-no really" James chuckled "You don't have to worry about that!"

The person looked at James with a frown "No I have to! It goes against my own principles" I'd seem like a bad guy if I didnt!"

"A guy?" James thought "so this person is a guy?"

"James" Kotomi mumbled tugging at his arm "Letting him repay you is the least you can do"

James gave an exhausted sigh realising that there was no way out of this.

"Would you at least like me to get you some juice" he asked

"Y-yeah sure! James nodded "Can you get one for Kotomi here too?" he asked guesting two fingers.

"Thank you James but I'm alright" Kotomi nodded

"So just one then?" he asked as James nodded in responce "Then just wait a second!" he smiled as he quickly ran off.

"He seem's like a nice person" Kotomi smiled.

"I guess although a little weird" James rolled his eye's "Then again who am I to talk?"

"Your not weird James" Kotomi whispered "Don't let anyone tell you other wise.

"Honestly Kotomi" James sighed "I think we are all weird in our own way!" "He seem's like a good guy though" James thought out loud not hearing Kotomi's word's "It's weird with the way he looked I couldn't tell if he was a guy or not!" James chuckled "um don't tell him that ok?"

"mmhh" Kotomi nodded

There was suddenly a frantic tapping sound up ahead from where James and Kotomi were "Is that him?" James mumbled

The guy suddenly appeared "Um do you like juice or tea?"

"Juice" James replied

"Roger!" the guy smiled as he ran back.

"All this just because I returned his resume" James mumbled "It's a shame that most people aren't this generous"

He suddenly ran back to James exhausted and gasping for breath "Carbonated or fruit juice?"

"I guess carbonated" James shrugged.

The guy gave a few gasps as he gave James a thumbs up "R-roger!" he ran off before suddenly running back up to them even more exhausted.

"Partly carbonated or fully carbonated? Which do you like?" The guy gasped for breath more heavily.

"I didn't know there were two types um.." James scratched the back of his head again "Fully carbonated I guess!"

"R-r-roger!" He gave another gasp as he ran off.

"The way it's going I think I might give him the drink instead! He looks like he needs it."

Before they knew it he suddenly ran back to them "I've only got bills" he wheezed clutching his chest "Got any change?"

"M-my wallet's at home so bit of a problem really."

It was awkward enough having Kotomi over at his flat but to invite a stranger was even more awkward.

"I have some change I think!" Kotomi spoke up as she searched her pockets bringing out a few coin's.

"I'll pay you back Kotomi" James assured her.

"T-thanks!" the guy gasped as he ran off again.

"So what do you bring money for then eh?" He asked glancing at Kotomi "I mean you bring your lunch from home right?"

"I sometimes use the vending machines although it's a rarity but I bring some change just in case"

"Ah I see" James responded mumbling.

The person ran back to James complete exhausted "I-i-is C-c-coke f-fine?" he wheezed.

"Sure" he replied as the guy coughed and wheezed "R-roger!" The guy ran off and came back holding a can of coke.

"H-here!" he wheezed as he passed the can over to James.

James felt bad at having to put this guy through all this trouble and he felt that even if he were to offer the guy his coke it'd only make things worse.

"Well you should drink up the good stuff then!" The guy smiled.

"Yeah" James mumbled as he put his finger onto the top of the can and opened up the pull tab.

 _ **PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHH!**_

White foam suddenly splashed all over James soaking his face his flat-cap (knocking it off his head!) and his front.

The guy and Kotomi looked at James worriedly

"Are you ok James?!" Kotomi exclaimed as James tried frantically to wipe the foam away from his face. "You shook it" James mumbled to the person as he tried to wipe the foam from his face. "I-I'm sorry! he shrieked "I didn't mean to shake it! I was in a hurry so-"

James suddenly burst out laughing too "Don't worry man it's not your fault!" he chuckled "This would have been brilliant for you've been framed!" James thought.

"No I'm really sorry!" He exclaimed as he brought out a handkerchief.

"No I can clean myself up thank you!"

"Come on come on!" He smiled trying to wipe James face his forehead eyebrows cheeks etc.

"You've missed a spot!" Kotomi chuckled wiping the foam from the back of his ear's.

"Don't you start Kotomi!" James was trying not to laugh at the situation.

"Dont move!" the guy grumbled "I might poke you in the eye or something!"

"Look just pass me the handkerchief and I'll clean it myself!" James grumbled.

"Ok" the guy grumbled in response passing James the handkerchief as he wiped himself off.

"By the way what's the time now?" he asked them.

Kotomi checked her watch "It's five past four"

"Argh!" The guy shrieked making them jump "It's already that time?!"

"Are you ok?" Kotomi mumbled.

"Sorry!" he exclaimed "I have to hurry to an interview! See you both later and thanks for the resume!"

"Hey wait your ha-" but before James could say anything else the guy quickly bolted off into the distance.

"Damn first I had to return a bloody resume and now a handkerchief?" James mumbled "Jesus bloody christ!"

"I guess you'll have to return it next time you meet him" Kotomi thought as she picked up James flat-cap as he drank what was left of his coke at the bottom of the can. "Yeah" James mumbled "It's weird I've met this guy twice now and I still don't even know his name!"

"I'm sure you'll find out his name some other time" Kotomi chuckled as she grasped James' hand much to his surprise.

"Shall we get going to your home?" Kotomi smiled.

"She's so damn cute!" James thought as he felt his face feel warm from blushing "Y-y-yeah!" he cleared his throat nervously "Let's go!"

The two continued their walk once again hand in hand. James struggled on what exactly to talk about with her.

"I could ask her how her day was but-" James gulped as he knew what the answer to such a question would be.

" _ **James-You're hurting me!**_ "

Kotomi's frightened word's still sent chills up his spine as he thought about earlier.

"D-do-" James stuttered nervously "Do you wanna go somewhere to eat?"

"Can we eat over at your flat?" Kotomi asked innocently "I mean if your going there you might as well not spend your money on my account"

"hehe" James chuckled nervously remembering when he'd cooked fajaheta's for the Fujibayashi twins. The sauce had been too hot due to the black pepper James had added making Ryou choke and Kyou had complained too

" _ **Jesus how much pepper did you put in that?!**_ "

"I think it'd be better if we went out for dinner Kotomi" James whimpered.

"Allright" Kotomi nodded as her grip on James's hand tightened.

...

They soon reached the flat as Kotomi stared in awe at the long flight of stairs that they had to climb.

"Well" James clapped his hands as he inhaled and exhaled few deep breath's to try and calm himself down "Shall we go?" James gestured his hand's towards the stairs. Kotomi simply nodded as she began to walk up the stairs the sounds of their footsteps echoed through the building.

"J-james" Kotomi mumbled as her voice became almost a whisper.

"Yeah?" James smiled.

"What's your mum like?"

"Um-" James scratched his head trying to think "Well she's a hard working woman a little over protective with a good sense of humor"

"I'll be glad to meet her" Kotomi chuckled making James give a light chuckle under his breath "What about you Kotomi? What are your parents like?"

Kotomi gasped and came to a sudden stop frozen stiff which worried James.

"Kotomi?" James asked looking at her frozen expression "Kotomi?" he waved his hand over her face and then put his hand on her shoulders shaking her slightly "Kotomi-chan?"

Kotomi's eyes suddenly widened as she appeared to return to reality "Oh" she whimpered in a slightly choked up voice shaking slightly making James removed his hands from her shoulders.

"S-sorry Kotomi I-"

"They're good people!" Kotomi interrupted in a dramatic tone of voice.

"huh?" James raised an eyebrow. Kotomi stared deep into his eyes as she grasped his shoulder "My parents they're good people!" James chuckled "Ah I see! Well perhaps when you're walking home I could meet your parents?"

Kotomi's grip on James' shoulder instantly tightened painfully as her nails dug into his shoulder. James gave a painful groan as he tried to remove her hand "Argh Kotomi!"

"M-m-m" Kotomi's eye's began to water as she struggled to get the words out of her mouth.

"Kotomi" James asked worriedly "Are you alright?"

"M-m-my p-parents are-they're-um" Kotomi's shoulders shook violently as she struggled to keep herself calm as painful memories came flooding back.

" _ **You mean no one's come to tell you what's happened to your parents?**_ "

"Kotomi!" James exclaimed in a worried tone "What's the matter?"

"My parents are out of town!" Kotomi exclaimed as her words echoed throughout the building "S-sorry I-i just-"

"I understand" James patted Kotomi on the head "Your still shaken up from earlier right?"

"Um yeah-" Kotomi whimpered as she rubbed her arm "Can we hurry please?"

"Yeah it is getting a little late" James glanced at his watch seeing that the time was _4:45PM_ and hurriedly continued up the stairs "It's a good thing your parents are away in a way cause I imagine they'd be rather worried if you were late home!"

"Yeah" Kotomi whimpered.

"I should tell him the truth. But it's too painful" Kotomi clenched her fists hard "Why did I lie like that?"

"Come on!" James exclaimed as he tried to hurry up the stairs.

...

They soon reached the area of the flat where James lived. Both were out of breath with aching legs from running.

"O-ok this s-s-shouldn't take too long!" James gasped "Just wait here alright?"

"Sure" Kotomi nodded.

With another gasp of exhaustion James knocked on the door three times. He placed his hand onto the doorknob but before he could open it he felt the knob turning on it's own as the door was swiftly opened as Victoria came into view.

"Welcome back Ja-" her eye's were suddenly fixed onto Kotomi who stared at the ground nervously playing with her fingers "um-" victoria glared puzzled.

"Oh ah sorry mum this is a friend of mine from school!" James gestured his arms in Kotomi's direction as she stood behind him shaking slightly.

"H-hello" Kotomi mumbled under her breath in a shaky voice as Victoria rolled her eyes in frustration as her expression changed into a frown. "I'm just heading off to town mum" James explain not realising his mother's annoyance at James bringing yet _another_ girl over to the flat.

"James-" Victoria began to speak as James bolted into the flat "Just getting my wallet!" he exclaimed as his voice became fainter from inside.

Kotomi stood fixed to the ground nervously as her legs began to feel like stone. Victoria walked over to Kotomi placing her hand on her shoulder making Kotomi's stomach feel tingly in a horrible kind of way as she moved her mouth towards Kotomi's ear.

"If you are another girl trying to take advantage of my son don't you even dare think about it!" she whispered "Otherwise you are going to have to answer to me and it's not going to be pretty!" Victoria moved away from Kotomi as her feelings of anxiety increased her stomach pain increased and her leg's felt even more fixed to the ground her heart began to thump loudly as it tightened and she felt like she was about to cry.

"O-of c-c-course mahm!" Kotomi sniffled.

James suddenly came back out from inside the flat. He had his wallet in his hand and had left his school material's in his bedroom. "Right let's go!" James exclaimed as he grabbed Kotomi's hand as they hurriedly ran down the stair's.

"James what am I going to do with you?!" Victoria thought as she clentched her fist's in frustration.

...

Kyou arrived at her house. She'd been slowly dragging her motorbike along as it was no longer any condition to drive.

"Maybe I could hide it in the garage until I can purchase a new one" Kyou thought worriedly as she stopped to rest her arm's which had begun to hurt from carrying the heavy lump of metal around for almost an hour and a half.

She stretched her arm's straightened her scarf and grabbed the motorbike slowly bringing it into the garage and hiding it under a black car cover. Kyou left the garage shutting the door behind her and walked over to the front door of her home. She knocked on the door before turning the knob and entering the house.

"I'm back!" Kyou shouted worriedly as she knew her mum would want to know why she was back this late.

"Mum's not here" Ryou mumbled as she appeared from the kitchen "she left a message on the phone that she'd working an extra shift tonight and won't be back until eight"

"Oh" Kyou gave a slight grin of relief upon realising that her mum would never know that she was late home. She then glanced at Ryou who looked at the floor. She could sense that something wasn't right about her little sister.

"Why were you home late?" Ryou mumbled as she clenched her fists.

"Um-it's complicated I-um-er where's Botan?" Kyou asked trying to change the subject.

"Playing outside" Ryou turned her head and looked at her sister eye to eye "You damaged your bike because you nearly ran over James"

"W-what I-i-" Kyou stuttered trying to find the right words as her kissed with James lingered on her mind.

"Follow me to our bedroom!" Ryou mumbled as she slowly walked upstairs as Kyou followed her in pursuit.

"He's told her about what happened hasn't he?!" Kyou thought as she felt her heart thumping loudly "I told him to forget about it!"

The twin's entered the bedroom. They stood in the room without saying anything.

"Did you-" Kyou's eye's widened as she knew what Ryou was about to ask "-Kiss James?"

"I-"

" _ **DID YOU?!**_ " __Ryou shouted slamming her fist onto her leg as she took a deep breath trying to remain calm. Kyou swallowed her pride putting her hand on her twin sister's shoulder's releasing the pain that she was going through from her hasty stupid pathetic actions.

"I did-" Kyou nodded trying to remain calm "But it's compli-"

 _ **TWAK!**_

Ryou slapped Kyou hard on the cheek sending her crashing down onto the floor with a loud thump.

"Y-you-" Ryou stuttered trying not to cry "-Your a bitch!" she exclaimed as Kyou slowly got up rubbing the side of her cheek that has turned a light pinkish red but slowly becoming a lighter tone. "R-ryou please it's not-"

"It is!" Ryou stomped her foot clentching her fist's as she desperatly tried to be brave and stand up for herself and not to cry "You like James don't you?" First you like Okazaki and now James!"

"P-please" Kyou sniffled "I can't explain it right now but-"

"Can't I just be happy?!" Ryou finally gave in as tears began to pour heavily from her eye's and fall to the floor "Can't I like a guy? Why do you have to express your feelings when I can't-"

" _ **I DON'T LOVE JAMES!**_ "

" _ **THEN WHY DID YOU KISS HIM?!**_ "

Their voices echoed in the empty room as they both stared at each other. Kyou looked at her sister. She wanted to explain her stupidity but how could she explain it? She'd kissed another girl there was no way Ryou would accept such a thing would she? Kyou took a deep breath but before she could even attempt to explain Ryou ran out of the room running down the stairs and leaving the house slamming the door behind her.

"I kissed another girl" Kyou mumbled to herself "I'm bi" she clenched her fists "I like girl's and guy's" tears began to fall from her eye's "and I was wrong to kiss James"

...

James and Kotomi reached the bottom of the flat gasping.

"S-sorry-" James coughed and spluttered as he clutched his stomach "I felt t-that running would give us more time to walk around!" he wheezed.

Kotomi started to shake slightly as she turned to James her eye's filled with tears "You-" Kotomi sniffled as James looked at her in shock "You said you mum was nice! Y-you lied to me!"

James gasped putting his hand over his mouth "Kotomi I didnt-" James couldn't think of any way to convince her that he hadnt lied "What did she tell you?" he asked.

"S-she-" Kotomi cleared her throat "She said I was taking advantage of you!" she clentched her fist's as the tears increased. James rushed over to Kotomi and hugged her "Just ignore her Kotomi!" he whispered in a comforting tone "She's been like that with another friend of mine and I don't know where she get's that idea from but please don't cry!"

Kotomi wiped her eyes as James let go of her. "You're right James I'm sorry for crying and also I'm sorry for this morning-"

"You don't have to-"

"I do!" Kotomi exclaimed "I was being childish and I'm sorry! I shouldn't have called you a liar for missing our lunch session"

"Kotomi" James placed his hand on her head "You're not childish! You're a sweet lovable girl and I like you!"

Kotomi gasped feeling her heart racing and her cheek's become a dark red "Do you mean-"

"W-well as a friend" James stuttered nervously "I like you a lot and wanna know more about you"

"Oh" Kotomi mumbled disappointedly.

James grasped Kotomi's hand "Let's head off shall we?"

Kotomi smiled "Yes let's have lunch"

"I'm going to have a word with mum when I get home!" James grumbled to himself.

...

Ryou walked through the streets alone still crying as she wiped her eye's. She looked around realising that she had ended up in the park. "I guess I can clear my mind" she thought taking exhaling a deep breath as she took a few steps.

 _ **Twak!**_

She suddenly felt something hit her across the face for a few second's whatever it was suddenly blew off of her face and onto the ground and started to be swept up with the wind.

"Quickly!" a voice shouted "Help me grab that!"

Ryou quickly grabbed what appeared to be a magazine and franticly looked around to see where the voice had some from.

"That's mine thanks!" A voice shouted. Ryou looked behind her and running behind her was a person that she had never seen before. He had a feminine face brownish yellow eyes blond hair that stuck up all over the place a green jacket greyish blue trousers brown shoes and carrying a bag over himself. The person clutched his chest gasping from exhaustion.

"Um H-here" Ryou stuttered passing the magazine over to the person. "Are you ok?" she asked.

"Y-yeah" he coughed "The magazine blew out of my hand's and I've been chasing it around."

Ryou tried her best not to chuckle "I see"

It's not funny!" the person whined.

"S-sorry" Ryou stuttered rubbing her arm. The person looked at Ryou with a look of concern "Why are you crying?"

"W-what?" Ryou wiped her eye's "I'm not crying I-"

"Do you wanna sit over at a bench?" he asked "You look a little shaken up"

Ryou nodded as she and the person walked over to an empty bench and sat down.

"I know it's none of my business but what's upset you?" he asked

"It's my sister" Ryou wiped her eye's "She um-" Ryou stopped herself. She was about to talk to a complete stranger but she felt that she needed to talk to someone about the situation no matter who it was "M-my sister kissed a friend of mine. I don't know why but she did."

"I'm assuming that you have a crush on this person if it's upset you like this?-"

"Well" Ryou began to play around with her fingers nervously as her face blushed a light pink "I don't know. I-i told him that he's like a brother to me but then there are times when I feel like I want to be _more_ than just friends!" Ryou sniffled wiping her eye's.

"I see" the person nodded "Love is a complicated thing I suppose"

"It just frustrates me because-" Ryou clentched her fist's "Both myself and her liked this guy in our class and now she seems to like this other friend of mine. It seems fate has chose for us both to like the same guy's or something like that" Ryou took a deep breath and looked into the person's eye's.

"I'm sorry" the person mumbled trying to reassure her and held her hand tightly.

"No I'm sorry" Ryou wiped her eyes again "I'm telling you all of this and I don't even know who you are. I'm Ryou Fujibayashi and you are?"

The person smiled "I'm Kappei Hiiragi! I know it's not the best of circumstances but it's nice to meet you miss Fujibayashi!"

Ryou chuckled "Just call me Ryou! And it's nice to meet you too mister Kappei Hiiragi"

Kappei chuckled "Just Kappei is fine!"

"So how about you?" Ryou chuckled "How come you were chasing that magazine?"

"It's a magazine about job applications" Kappei explained "I've been trying to get a job but I keep messing up." Kappei gave a sigh of disappointment.

"Messing up?" Ryou raised an eyebrow

"I tried to get a job at a pizza delivery place but they turned me down" Kappei grumbled.

"How come they turned you down?"

"Well ah-" Kappei scratched his head " Well it was because of a tiny problem" he grumbled with a frustrated tone

"And that problem was?" Ryou asked with interest.

"Well" Kappei began to explain "When they asked me if I had a license I have to tell them that I don't have one don't I?"

"Yes of course" Ryou raised an eyebrow curiously.

"You don't need a license for even a bike nowadays right?" Kappei continued "I can't move on a scooter with just my right hand!There's a limit to making a fool out of people!"

"O-of course you'd need a license!" Ryou stuttered at this strangers nievity "You'd get arrested otherwise!"

"I know but it's only a problem if you do get arrested. If you don't screw up you can get away with it scot free!"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Ryou exclaimed clentching her fist's.

Kappei sighed "In any case I'll have to pass on jobs that need licenses I can't use" Kappei clenched his fists "A man's path is to have a job that'll bring them from zero to the top!"

Ryou chuckled "Well good luck with that!"

Kappei glanced at Ryou and smiled "It's been nice having this conversation with you!"

"You too! Ryou nodded smiling "Sure was a funny coincidence bumping into you after losing a magazine of all things."

"I don't believe in coincidence" Kappei shook his head "Perhaps we knew each other in a past life or something!"

"I suppose" Ryou bit her nail at the thought of such a thing "So what job are you planning to apply for next?"

"You know the restaurant _Moth Burger_ right?" Kappei explained "That's where I plan to apply for next" They pay you 730 yen an hour! If you stare for hours you'll get 1'460 yen!"

"Well I wish you good luck Kappei" Ryou chuckled as she began to search her pockets for her fortune telling cards.

"Maybe you could apply their too!" Kappei exclaimed

"Oh no no I have school!" Ryou chuckled still checking her pockets but with no luck "Um s-sorry but I was hoping to maybe predict your fortune but I seem to have left my card's at home" Ryou blushed feeling embarrassed.

"Fortune telling?" Kappei raised an eyebrow "That sounds fun!"

Ryou chuckled still feeling a little embarrassed "Um-I ah-actually don't think telling your fortune would have been the best idea" Ryou rubbed her arm as she began to feel anxiety pain's in her stomach "Lately it seems my fortunes are bringing problems for people"

Ryou felt the tingle of anxiety in her stomach increase when she remembered her fortune to James that he'd lose someone important to him. He'd become upset that it might be his mother that he would lose but in actual fact it had been Ryou herself that James would eventually lose.

"I regret that now" Ryou choked up trying not to cry as she thought about when she'd told James she wanted time away from him.

"You Ok?" Kappei asked placing his hand on her shoulder. Ryou glanced at him as she wiped her eyes "Y-yeah!" Ryou cleared her throat "I was just-remembering something. L-look-" Ryou stuttered as she started to leave the bench "I-i really should be getting back home I'm sorry!" Ryou wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"I understand" Kappei stood up from the bench "By the way I hope everything goes well with your friend and your sister"

"Thank you" Ryou nodded "I hope I see you again sometime Kappei and I hope you can get that job at moff burger!"

"I hope to see you again too Ryou!" Kappei chuckled "Hopefully the next time you see me you'll be calling me mister burger!"

They both burst out laughing as they went their separate way's.

"He seems nice" Ryou thought "Hope I see him again. Reminds me of James for some reason too"

...

James and Kotomi arrived at moth burger.

"So what do you want?" James asked while skimming through his wallet.

"I'll just have salad" Kotomi answered as she took a seat at an empty two seater table

"Alright" James nodded as he brought out a handful of change that he hoped was correct and entered the building. Kotomi took a deep breath as she played with her hair twirling it around in her fingers feeling nervous . She did this for several minutes until James arrived with carrying a tray with salad for her and burger and chips for himself.

"Well" James cleared his throat " Enjoy!"

Kotomi slowly started to eat the salad with a plastic fork while James quickly ate the chips and began to chomp away at the burger.

"S-slow down!" Kotomi exclaimed "Y-you'll give yourself heartburn or indigestion pains!"

James dropped the burger and clutched at his chest moving around uncomfortably from indigestion pain's "C-crap!" James groaned "S-sorry but it tastes so damn good!"

"That's not an excuse to eat in such a vulgar way" she mumbled frowning.

"Probably should have bought a drink too!" James groaned as he took a few deep breath's as the pain left his body. "Kotomi can I ask you something?"

"As long as you're not asking about my weight or body measurements"

James felt his face blushing red "N-no it's-" James coughed "It's nothing like that!" James ran his hand over his face and took a deep breath "Do-do you believe in ghosts?"

Kotomi moved her plate of salad to one side as she put her elbows onto the table and grasped her hand's with a look of deep thought as she closed her eye's with a long silence for several minutes.

"Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs but I personally find the concept of ghost's and or an afterlife to be illogical"

James tried his best not to laugh at Kotomi's rather robotic delivery of her statement and tried to hide a slight smirk on his face.

"All Right Mister Spock!" James unintentional chuckled as Kotomi stared at him blankly "Mister Spock?"

"Its-" James coughed "It's a Star Trek thing" James took another bite from his burger as Kotomi still stared at him blankly "Star Trek?"

"It's a science fiction show from america" James explained with his mouth full trying not to choke.

"Ok" Kotomi shrugged "Anyway do you mind if I ask _you_ something?"

James nodded as he took another bite.

"Well when you-" Kotomi rubbed her shoulder's thinking about when James had pushed her forcefully against a wall "When you lost your temper you said that Ryou had left you because of some rumor's. What did you mean by that?"

James quickly explained the situation to Kotomi of what had happened the day before. "I see" Kotomi nodded feeling sorry for James "I can understand how you feel hurt because of that. You both seem rather close"

"Well she was the first person I met at the school plus we're similar after all" James took one last bite from his burger.

"So is Ryou your sweetheart?"

" _Ack!_ "James choked coughing and spitting out the last piece of the burger onto the floor and gasping for breath "N-no!" James rubbed his throat "She's just a friend and someone who I feel I can turn to for advice"

"Oh" Kotomi murmured.

"Another thing is I would _**NEVER**_ date someone that I've only know for a week you need to really get to know someone before dating them" James grabbed his left sideburn and pulled at it furiously "I just wish people would stop asking that damn question!" James stopped himself taking another deep breath to calm himself down to avoid going onto a rant and slowly stood up from the table "Shall we walk around for a bit?"

"Sure" Kotomi replied as she stood up.

...

They walked around looking past shop windows such as bookstore's sweet shop's movie rental store's until finally coming across a shop selling used items. At the store windows were some old NES games VHS tape's manga's Star Wars figures and a teddy bear. The bear looked old and worn out. It's left ear was torn off it's right eye was missing the piece of thread that formed a smile was only half attached and there were some tears and holes all over the body with pieces of fluff sticking out. Kotomi tugged on James's arm as she looked at it her eye's widening "It's so cute!"

James raised an eyebrow as he looked at the bear "You think so? I mean it's pretty messed up with all the damage it's taken"

"Poor little bear" Kotomi mumbled in a saddened tone as she pressed her finger tips against the glass. "So you like teddy bear's huh?" James asked as Kotomi appeared glued to the glass like a child about to go into a toy shop.

"I could buy it for her if she really likes it that much" James thought as he grasped his hand onto Kotomi's shoulder. As he opened his mouth to ask her if she wanted him to buy it for her there was a loud gasp from Kotomi.

"W-what is it?" James asked startled. He glanced at Kotomi's reflection. Through the glass her eyes filled with a look of fear and terror as her body began to shake and she began to whimper. Walking towards them from behind was a tall slim man dressed in an all grey suit and fedora hat he appeared to be in his early to mid fifties with greying hair and a moustache. James turned his head and looked directly into the direction of the man as he slowly walked towards them step by step becoming closer and closer. Sensing Kotomi's utter fear at this man whoever he was James quickly grasped Kotomi's hand and prepared himself to protect her. He felt his chest tighten as his heart began to beat loudly upon feeling her shaking hand making his grip on it become tighter he cleared his throat trying not to breathe too heavily.

"Kotomi" the man murmured to her as he came closer. Kotomi whimpered like a frightened puppy as she tightened her grip on James's hand. James slowly took a step forward glancing at the man who gave a quick glance in return before returning his attention to Kotomi.

"Who-" James opened his mouth to speak but before he could even finish the word he was suddenly being dragged away extremely fast with his feet dragging across the ground and rubbing into the concrete. James glanced at Kotomi and saw that they were both running. James placing the tip of one shoe onto the ground jumped to get his feet straight back onto the ground and be able to run properly alongside Kotomi.

"Kotomi!" The man could be heard shouting as his voice became fainter and fainter with every passing moment. James kept his grip on Kotomi's hand as they ran. Not just to keep up with her but also because he was worried about what would happen to her if they were to be separated. This man clearly frightened her very much and he wanted to know why. Why was she frightened of this man what could he or rather " _had_ " he possibly done to make her become this afraid?

James was too deep in his thought's to notice the two of them come to a sudden stop as James crashed into Kotomi and they both lay on the ground. James felt a dizziness inside his head as everything appeared to spin around while he tried to stand himself back up. Kotomi lay on the ground gasping heavily from exhaustion as she very slowly tried to get back up again. Seeing her struggle James grabbed her arm's helping her back up.

"Come on" he whispered to her as she straightened up and released her. He turned his head to look around at his surroundings they appeared to be at the park but no one was around as it was becoming late in the day and the sky was starting to become a yellowish orange.

Kotomi cleared her throat putting her hand on her chest as she inhaled and exhaled deep breath's trying to calm herself down. James turned looked at Kotomi who's eye's had become bloodshot. He put his hand on her chin and moved her head into his direction "Kotomi" James cleared his throat "Who was that man?"

Kotomi suddenly burst into tears and was quickly embraced in a tight hug from James as he stroked her hair "Shhh it's ok!" James tried to reassure her in a comforting tone of voice like his mother would do for him when he was a young child "He's gone" he whispered as Kotomi's crying increased. As proceeded to hug her harder e felt his heart racing once again

"Why am I feeling this way?" James thought while at the same time trying not to cry himself.

"H-he's a bad man!" Kotomi choked up as she cleared her throat "A v-very bad man!"

Upon hearing those word's James felt his stomach tingle with worry as to what Kotomi meant exactly by the term a very bad man "What has he done to you?" He asked as he began to imagine the worst possible scenario's "Did he touch you or something?!"

"I-" Kotomi cleared her throat again while the tears still poured down her face "I want to go home!" she exclaimed in a childlike manner.

James let go of Kotomi grabbed her shoulder's and looked at her face. Her bloodshot eyes had become worse and her face was lined with wet mark's from her tear's "Kotomi" James inhaled a deep breath as he tried to remain calm "What did that man do to you?!"

"P-please!" She sniffled "I j-just want to go home!" James could tell that there was no arguing with her. Kotomi was very badly shaken up by this little encounter and it would be a foolish and futile move to pursue the matter further at least for now "Alright" James murmured once again grasping her hand tightly "I'll walk you home although your gonna need to show me the way"

Kotomi nodded without a word as she clung onto James's arm and slowly began to walk.

"I want my mum and dad back" Kotomi mumbled to herself in a faint whisper as painful memories of days long since gone flashed through her mind.

" _ **MUMMY AND DADDY ARE A BUNCH OF LIARS I HATE YOU!**_ "

" _ **I BURNED IT TOMOYA! I BURNED MUMMY AND DADDY'S THESIS! NOW IT'S ALL GONE!**_ "

...

"I guess I over reacted" Ryou thought as she walked back to her home. After talking to the stranger Kappei Hiiragi she felt better as if she'd been able to clear her mind and think about both her and her sister's actions. She still couldn't understand why Kyou had kissed James if she wasn't interested in him in a romantic way but perhaps there was a reason for her actions even if it made no logical sense. She clentched her fist's as she walked nearer to the location of her home "I'll just talk it over with her and listen to her explanation" but deep down inside she felt incredibly hurt pherhap's heartbroken.

...

Inside her home Kyou stood inside the kitchen staring into the front lawn through the window. She felt awful for her actions with kissing James and upsetting her sister to the fact that she was a bisexual person.

"I'm an idiot" She murmured to herself "I can't do anything right! I just make everyone's lives miserable!"

"Puhi Puhi?" Botan squeaked worriedly sensing something was wrong. Kyou bent down and picked up Botan hugging and stroking her "Don't worry Botan" she whispered to her pet "You don't have to worry about human problems" "Puhi Puhi" Botan gave another worried squeak as Kyou placed Botan back onto the floor and opened up a draw. She took out a sharp kitchen knife and placed it inside her pocket. She turned her head and stared at Botan "Stay down here Botan!" she exclaimed in a serious tone as Botan whimpered and Kyou walked out of the kitchen upstairs and into the bedroom.

She took a deep breath as she shut the bedroom door and removed her scarf throwing it onto the floor and walked over to her bed and sat down. She cleared her throat as she felt her heart racing and her stomach tingling from what she was about to do to herself.

"Am I really going to do this?" She thought as a single tear ran down her face as she searched her pocket and brought out the knife. She brought out her left arm and pulled her sleeve down and placed the knife against her wrist. The knife felt cold and she could already imagine the pain that she was about to endure as the cold metal touched her skin.

Downstairs the door opened and Ryou entered the house "I'm back sis!" she exclaimed as she looked around to see if her sister would appear from the front room or the kitchen.

" _ **Puhi puhi puhi puhi!"**_ "Botan squeaked frantically jumping around as she ran toward Ryou much to her shock "B-botan calm down what is it?! where's sis?!" Botan ran up the stair's still squeaking frantically as if to signal Ryou to follow as she followed franticly in pursuit.

Kyou stared at the knife on her wrist. All she could do was stare and think. All she had to do was increase the pressure on the knife to cut into her skin and drag the knife into either a left or right direction then the wound would open up and blood would begin to pour slowly and painfully killing her. She then began to think about the repercussions about if she were to go through with this. She would kill herself yes but it will still have consequences. Ryou and their mother would most likely never get over her death and all of her friends (especially James) would be deeply affected by it.

" _ **No!**_ " __Kyou thought as she quickly moved the knife away from her wrist as the door slammed open much to her shock.

"R-ryou!" Kyou stuttered gobsmacked as Ryou looked at her sister while Botan squeaked jumping around in panic. Ryou stared at her sister knife in hand and gasped putting her hand over her mouth.

"S-sis!" Ryou exclaimed in a muffled voice as her eye's widened.

Kyou glanced at the knife and threw it onto the ground and quickly stood up from the bed "Ryou it isn't what it look's like! Ryou's eyes widened even more as she saw the mark's around her sister's throat. "S-sis!" Ryou gasped in a whisper as he started to breath heavily "Y-you've been trying to harm yourse-" Ryou clutched her chest as she began to make a loud wheezing sound.

"Ryou!" Kyou grabbed her sister's shoulders "Just calm down!" the wheezing became worse and Ryou's legs started trembling.

"I C-c-can't b-breath!" She wheezed as she began to feel light headed and her vision become blurry. She was having a panic attack.

"Ryou!" Kyou shook her sister furiously. She had no idea what to do her sister was practically suffocating and she couldn't stop it.

"This is all my fault!" Kyou thought "Me and my stupid actions!"

Ryou's vision became every more of a blur and slowly becoming darker and darker until she finally passed out.

" _ **RYOU!**_ "Kyou screamed as her sister's head dropped. Kyou frantically tapped her face to try and wake her up and then moved her over towards the bed and moved her body flat onto the mattress.

"I-I've got to call an ambulance!" Kyou choked up as tears ran down her face as she picked up her phone and frantically dialed the number.

...

"So this is your home?" James stared at Kotomi's house shocked.

The house itself looked huge from the outside but the garden which was surrounded by a large gate was a complete mess. The grass was very long and in desperate need of cutting a rusted table chair and gardening equipment were lying around alongside an old and worn out wooden shed.

"Yeah" Kotomi whimpered "This is where I live"

James was completely shocked at the mess. How on earth could Kotomi's parents keep the garden in such a terrible state?

"Um if you ever want help with sorting out your garden I'd be glad to" James cleared his throat "T-that's if your parent's are fine with that of course!"

Kotomi's eye's widened and watered slightly as she looked at James. "James-" Kotomi gulped as she felt her body shaking and a horrible tingling feeling in her stomach "There's something I need to-"

Images of Kotomi's parents flashed through her mind. All the happy memories that she couldn't go back to no matter how hard she tried. "I can't!" Kotomi thought shaking her head much to James's surprise "I don't wanna just drop it out of the blue like that! It'll be too much of a shock to him!" she clutched her fist's hard still shaking her head.

"Are you ok Kotomi?" James asked raising an eyebrow worridly.

Kotomi quickly snapped back into reality "Y-yes!" she stuttered.

"You um-you said there was something you needed to tell me? I think?" James mumbled the last word under his breath.

Kotomi gave a fake chuckle and smiled "Oh it's nothing!" she felt a horrible pain in her stomach as the word's left her mouth "I just want to thank you for such a great time!"

James blushed "Ha! W-well all we really did was have lunch and walk around" He stuttered scratching the back of his head.

"Even so it made me happy" Kotomi smiled as her face became a light pink "Just being with you makes me happy James" she rubbed her arm nervously "You're a good friend!"

"W-well" James stuttered scratching his head as his blushing increased "I'll-I'll" James cleared his throat "I'll see you at school tomorrow!"

"Of course! Kotomi nodded smiling as she took out her house keys unlocking the door "By the way you can come and visit me anytime" She chuckled.

"I-i suppose!" James coughed as he covered his mouth.

"See you later" she smiled shutting the door behind her.

James brushed off his uniform taking a deep breath "Well I'd better head off home!" he thought. As he took a few steps he remembered the teddy bear in the window of the used shop. He recalled Kotomi's sadness at the bear just laying on the window display day after day and would probably be thrown out soon or later.

"I guess I could buy it for her" James chuckled to himself "and then head back here and give her the bear. yeah! She'll love it!"

...

James was halfway there towards the used shop when an ambulance zoomed past on the road.

"Oh dear!" James mumbled biting his nails "Seem's like someone's in serious trouble!" James shrugged as he walked across the road.

"Excuse me!" A voice called out. Upon hearing the voice James looked around and there just a few meters away was the man that had frightened Kotomi.

"Y-you!" James gasped startled as he took a few steps back "W-what do you want?"

"That girl you were with" The man started to talk "Kotomi-"

"What do you want with her?!" James interupting the man clentch his fist's.

"Please-" The man tried to reassure James "You've got the wrong idea"

"Don't give me that crap!" James clenched his teeth as he tried not to lose his temper "She was afraid of you! You must have hurt her or-or something!"

The man sighed "Are you her boyfriend kid?"

"N-no!" James stuttered as his face blushed red "I-I-I'm just a friend!" James cleared his throat "But don't change the subject wha-"

"What do you know about the situation regarding Kotomi's parents?" the man asked

"Situation?" James mumbled "What are you talking about-"

"I see-" the man sighed "You must not be aware of it. It's not my place to say but a lot of thing's trouble that poor girl. Did she say anything about me?"

"S-she" James stuttered realizing that there was much more to Kotomi and her family situation than he knew "she said that you were a bad man" James felt a chill run down his spine as he remembered how shaken up Kotomi had been when she told him that.

"I see-" the man sighed in a sad tone "I suppose to Kotomi all of us are to blame for what happened" The man walked a few inches closer to James "Look out for her kid. She's far more fragile than see seem's and could break down at anytime if a terrible incident were to occur."

"W-what are you_"

"That's all" the man interrupted raising his hand "I'll see you around I suppose" and with that the man walked off. James watched the man for a few more moments before he continued his walk towards the used shop.

"I don't understand any of this" James thought as he pulled his right sideburn unintentionally pulling a few hair's out much to his dismay.

...

He soon reached the store and the teddy bear was still on display in the window. James opened the door where a bell clanged loudly echoing through the room as he entered the store. The inside was badly lit with only a single light that was slowly becoming powerless as it flickered to a bright and dark tone. The floor was a murky green colour which was worn out cracked and full of light brown marks from where the paint had chipped. "Gee this place is creepy" James thought as he began to have an uncomfortable and nervous feeling in his chest. He walked over to the window and carefully picked up the bear and brought it over to the counter. The counter was dustry with a strong wooden smell and random fake eyeballs and brain's in jars that had been glued onto the counter alongside a rusted bell which James tapped as a loud ding sound echoed loudly as a hunched balding old man dressed in a black moth eaten suit appeared from the door at the end of the counter.

"Yes?" the man grumbled eyeing James up "What is it boy?"

"Um-" James covered his mouth coughed and cleared his throat "I'd like to purchase this bear"

The man chuckled as a smile formed in the corner of his lip's "That will be 120 yen my dear boy!"

"Alright" James mumbled as he searched through his pocket brought out his wallet and gave the man some shiny coin's passing them over to the man as he brought out his hand over to James's direction twitching his fingers. He put the money into the man's hand as he quickly snatched the money away and placed it into his pocket cackling to himself.

"This guy is creepy as hell!" James thought as the man passed him a black bag to put the teddy bear into. "Thank you!" James bowed to the man as he began to walk over to the door to leave.

"No thank you my boy!" the man chuckled as he examined the coin's "Now buzz off!"

"Yeah sure" james scoffed as he left the shop shutting the door behind him. He took a deep breath as he tasted the fresh air "God I don't wanna go in their again unless I have to!" he opened the thin bag and glanced at the bear inside and grinned "She'll love it!"

...

"Ryou! Ryou!" Kyou whaled at tear's ran heavily down her face as her sister lay unconscious on her bed "Please please wake up!"

There was a loud knock on the door downstairs "Puhi puhi!" Botan squeaked " _ **I KNOW BOTAN I HEARED!**_ " __She shouted slamming her fist onto the ground quickly getting herself up and hurriedly running down stairs and grabbing the doorknob. She opened the door and standing in front of her were too paramedic's dressed in all white with a red cross on their uniform's. Behind them were two more paramedic's with a stretcher.

"S-she's upstairs first door on the left!" Kyou choked up as she signalled her arm up towards the stairs. The paramedic's nodded their heads as they mumbled "right" and hurriedly rushed upstairs.

"Kyou!" Kyou's eye's widened upon hearing her mother's voice her legs began trembling and she kept taking deep breath's to try to remain calm. "Kyou!" Chiyo ran up to her eldest daughter grabbing her shoulder's and proceeding to violently shake her "What the hell's happened? Did something happen to Ryou! And-" Chiyo's eye's widened as she saw the marks on Kyou's throat "Why are there marks on your neck?!"

Kyou gave her mother a tight hug as she began to break down crying "S-s-she- Kyou choked "She had a panic attack and passed out! I c-called the ambulance because I didn't know what to do!"

Chiyo held her daughter tightly trying to calm her down. The last time Kyou had cried like this was the last time that they had seen their father Daisuke when he had attempted to abduct the twin's when they were just small children. "It's going to be alright Kyou you did the right thing!" she whispered "But tell me what caused to have a panic attack in the first place"

"Out of the way!" A paramedic shouted as two other paramedic's carried the stretcher down with Ryou still lying unconscious with a mask over her face supplying oxygen while a faint darth vader like breathing sound could be heard. Chiyo and Kyou quickled moved aside as the paramedic's brought Ryou towards the ambulance "Mahm" one of the paramedic's called to Chiyo "Would you like to accompany your daughter to the hospital?"

"Of course!" Chiyo nodded as she ran over to the ambulance and quickly turned her head to Kyou. "Kyou stay here and look after the house we'll discuss things later!"

"Y-yes mum!" Kyou whimpered as she watched Ryou being brought into the back of the ambulance with Chiyo following inside as the door's shut and the ambulance drove off.

Botan slowly walked over to Kyou and brushed against her leg's trying to comfort her "Puhi Puhi" Botan whimpered as Kyou stared blankly into the direction that the ambulance had driven off to.

...

James looked at the sky which was becoming an orange colour as the sun was beginning to set and the air became chilly "I'd better make this quick and head off home" he thought as he reached Kotomi's home. He glanced at the untidy garden which bothered him greatly.

" _ **Look out for her kid. She's far more fragile than see seem's and could break down at anytime if a terrible incident were to occur.**_ "

The man's words echoed through James's mind over and over.

"What did he mean by that?" James thought "I know she's kind of timid after I-" a chill ran down his spine as he thought about when he had hurt the poor girl in the library "-after I hurt her but I don't even wanna know what else could set that poor girl off"

He took a deep breath as he reached the door and felt his heart skip a beat as he reached his hand out to the door as he turned it into a fist and knocked four times. He began to feel nervous as he started to breath heavily his heart rate increased and a few drops of sweat ran down from his forehead.

"Why the hell am I feeling like this?!" He thought as he tried to remain calm "I've not felt like this since-"

Before he could finish his thought process the door slowly opened as Kotomi popped her head out near the end of the door. "Oh James!" Kotomi smiled as she opened the door fully. She was now dressed in a pink dressing down with what appeared to be dark yellow coloured pyjamas. James looked at Kotomi in awe as she stood before him in a completely different hairstyle. She had removed the red beads from her hair thus her hair ran down and she looked quite different.

"H-hi" James stuttered as his pupil's dilated "She looks even cuter than when she has her hair done up!" he thought. "So how come your back?" she asked innocently making him blush slightly.

"W-w-well I-i-i-i-i" James cleared his throat "I bought you something!" he exclaimed as he bowed passing her the black bag. "Oh?" Kotomi looked at James confused as she took the bag from him putting her hand inside and bringing out the teddy bear. Kotomi gasped as her face became a cute beautiful smile "You bought the bear for me!" Kotomi chuckled as she looked at the bear. James moved from his bowing position and looked at Kotomi and blushed "W-well I knew you'd like it so-" James cleared his throat giving a light cough "I bought it for you!"

Kotomi suddenly hugged James tightly "Thank you James" she whispered "This really means a lot" James carefully put his arm's around her hugging her in return "It's my pleasure Kotomi!" they were embrassed in the hug for several moment's without another word until they released each other both blushing deep in red.

"I-" Kotomi cleared her throat as she played with her hair "I've already thought of a name for it"

"What are you gonna call it?" James coughed clearing his throat as his heart raced violently as he suddenly felt " _something_ " in his lower area and crossed his legs.

Kotomi chuckled "It's a secret"

"Ah" James mumbled not entirely sure what to say next scratching his head nervously "W-well I-i guess I'll see you in school tomorrow" he smiled nervously.

"J-james c-can you close your eye's for a moment?" Kotomi's blushing increased as her heart pounded violently. "Um sure?" James raised an eyebrow as he shut both his eye's "Is this ok?"

Kotomi grabbed James's collar moved herself closer towards him and kissed him on the cheek making the pair of them blush even more violently.

"K-kotomi!" James stuttered completely gobsmacked as he opened his eye's.

"S-see you at school tomorrow!" Kotomi hurriedly shut the door as her face was completely red gasping heavily as she thought about what she'd just done. She then looked at the teddy bear and smiled.

"I think I'll name you James!"

Outside James was still shocked over what had just occured "S-she kissed me!" he mumbled in a whisper as he felt his cheek and proceeded to turn around "I-I'd better head off home!"

...

James soon reached the flat. He arrived out of breath from running halfway as the weather had become darker and it became a possibility that he could be mugged if he were wandering around alone at this time of the day. He gave a loud sigh as he prepared to walk the long flight of stairs "They really should have built in an elevator!" he grumbled.

"James!"

James look up the stairs and saw who was approaching him.

"Tomoyo!" James gasped stunned "W-what are you doing here?"

"I was just talking with your mother" she began to explain "I-"

"Hang on!" James interrupted "How did you know the way to my flat?"

"I was here yesterday with Kyou" Tomoyo's expression seemed trouble and she started to play with her fingers nervously upon saying that name "There was a misunderstanding about the situation and I wanted to clear things up with her after-"

"After what?" James interrupted raising an eyebrow as Tomoyo gave a slight gasp "So she didn't tell you?"

"Well I know my mum apparently had a " _talk_ " with Kyou" James gestured his two fingers to indicate his sarcastic way of saying the word talk "She think's Kyou's taking advantage of me for some reason"

Tomoyo took a few deep breath's clutching her fist's as she tried to remain calm and not burst out with frustration "It-it's not my place to explain the situation" she murmured clenching her teeth as she walked to the bottom of the stair's.

"Are you alright?" James asked concerned noticing Tomoyo's frustration. "Yeah" Tomoyo nodded "Um there's something else I need to ask you about" Tomoyo gave a serious frown putting her hand on his shoulder.

"And that is?" He asked as he glanced at her hand on his shoulder nervously.

"Well I'd like to teach you self defense!" Tomoyo explained.

"Self defense?" James asked raising an eyebrow.

"W-well" Tomoyo stuttered "I don't wanna sound rude but you couldn't defend yourself at all when we were ambushed yesturday and that deeply bothered me"

"Yeah" James mumbled as a horrible flashback from his last school played out in his mind.

 _ **He was on the school bus hunched down on a chair covering his head as a larger boy from a seat behind stood up trying to punch him.**_

 _ **"COME ON WALKER!" The larger boy shouted.**_

 _ **"STOP IT!" A female voice cried**_

 _ **"YOU DESERVED THAT WALKER!" another voice shouted while James sat crying trying to keep himself protected.**_

"James?" Tomoyo asked concerned as James clenched his teeth and clutched his fist's giving a slight growl "James!"

"Oh!" James quickly snapped back into reality "S-sorry I-" James stuttered scratching his head "I was just remembering something"

"Something bad?"

James nodded "Yes!"

"I see" Tomoyo eyed James as his apparent anger reminded her of when she was younger and much more violent during the troubled times in her family. "W-well I spoke to your mother about me training you and she's fine with it" Tomoyo explained trying not to bluntly change the conversation "All I need is your approval"

"Yeah" James nodded "I'm in need of learning to defend myself and you're in my opinion the most able person to teach me anything effective"

"I'm glad to hear that" Tomoyo blushed slightly as she brought out her hand to signal a handshake. James chuckled and shook her hand "So when can we start?"

"I'll need to find some free time but I'll contact you when we can start" Tomoyo quickly searched her front pocket and gave James a small piece of paper it read:

 _ **0944655610 My number from Tomoyo**_

"Thank's" James smiled "Well I'll see you tomorrow I suppose"

Tomoyo gave a light chuckle as she nodded "yeah" and they went their separate way's as James went up the stairs and Tomoyo began her walk back home.

"I hope he didn't get the wrong idea with me giving him my number" Tomoyo thought nervously as she bit her nails.

...

James walked up the long flight of stairs as he looked at the piece of paper containing Tomoyo's number.

"I'm surprised mum agreed to me learning self defense" he thought "But even so it's better to be able to defend yourself than not to be able to defend yourself.

James clutched his fist's as the flashback's from his last school replayed again.

" _ **Come on then Walker!**_ "

He could still feel the punches as they impacted onto his head "I wish I could go back to England and teach those bastards a lesson!" he growled "Especially " _her_ " for taking advantage of me and using me!" James slammed his fist onto his leg and took a few deep breath's "Calm down James!" he whispered to himself "Just calm down!" he inhaled and exhaled multiple times "Just think about something else!"

His mind suddenly flashed back to Kotomi kissing him on the cheek "Not that!" he thought taking another deep breath "Does she like me?" James mind raced to figure out a logical answer "I don't wanna get the wrong idea."

James soon reached his area of the flat and knocked on the door three times opened it and entered the flat.

"I'm back mum!" James shouted as he removed his shoes placing them near the door and proceeded to walk into the front room as Victoria entered from the kitchen.

"Hello luv" she smiled "I had a visit earlier-"

"Yeah I know" James interrupted "A friend from school want's to teach me self defence"

"Oh!" Victoria mumbled stunned that James already knew "Well I feel that you should know how to defend yourself" she explain

"You've never thought about it before" James mumbled

"Well people change" Victoria sighed as she sat down on the couch "Also I've made a terrible misjudgement"

"You mean Kyou right?" James asked worriedly

"Yes" Victoria nodded "I made the mistake of thinking that she was trying to take advantage of you and I would like to apologize to her"

"That's good" James smiled "I'll text her about it in the morning-no scratch that I'll tell her at school!"

"I also would like to apologize to that other girl that was with you today" Victoria sighed "What was her name Koyomi or something?"

"Kotomi" James nodded "yeah she was really shaken up by whatever it was you said to her. She's delicate so she's frightened rather easily.

" _ **Look out for her kid. She's far more fragile than see seem's and could break down at anytime if a terrible incident were to occur.**_ "

The man's words once again echoed in James's mind.

"James?" Victoria tapped James on the shoulder as he looked deep in thought "Oh s-sorry!" James snapped back into reality "Sorry I was just thinking about something" he rubbed his leg nervously.

"Well can you please tell that Kotomi girl that I would like to apologize to her?"

"Of course!" James nodded smiling. He then pushed himself up and began to walk to his bedroom "I'm gonna change into my pyjamas!" he exclaimed as he opened the door shutting it quietly behind him.

He gave a loud sigh as he walked further into his bedroom and picked up the half finished customised star carving examining it looking at both side's.

"Time to finish this!" he smiled

 _ **To be continued.**_

 _ **Author's note:**_

 _ **Well this is probably the longest chapter of Sketching Tomorrow so far! I've done a small bit of work on chapter 20 but not much. I've not been in the mood to write latly and my interested with Clannad started to decrease recently although I am starting to get in the right mood for it again. Kind of hard to explain it's probably cause I've watched the whole show several times now and I've been showing it to my father too (We're up to episode 9 of after story).**_

 _ **I also wanna start writing this Star Wars fanfiction soon so that may be uplaoded first before chapter 20 but time will tell.**_

 _ **Anyway please tell me what you thought of this chapter and if you thought anything could be changed or removed etc.**_

 _ **One last thing in a couple months (July 21st) it will have been a year since I began writing this story and I wanna say thank's for everyone who has supported this story.**_


	21. Chapter 20: A night's aftermath

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 20: A night's aftermath.**_

James woke up his eyes feeling heavy as they tried forcefully to drift back off to sleep. Placing his hand's onto the edge of the bed he forced himself up as the spring's of the mattress squeaked faintly.

"Ugh" James yawned as he ran his right hand down the right side of his face "What time is it?" he mumbled as he activated his phone and saw that the time was _7:05_

"I'm up earlier than usual" he remarked as he came off of the bed stood up and stretched himself with a loud yawn.

"Might as well get dressed since I'm up. Nothing else to do..."

Picking up a fresh pair of underpants a flannel and towel from his draw he went inside the bathroom undressed himself and activated the shower. James shivered as ice cold water fell upon him for a few seconds before slowly becoming nice and warm. "That's the stuff!" James sighed feeling relaxed.

He rubbed his cheek where Kotomi had kissed him as his " _lower area_ " began to get a little excited "So does she actually _like_ me?" his heart pounded as his chest tightened and he struggled to breath as he rubbed his throat.

"If she does...what the hell am I gonna do?" he ran shower gel through his hair as it ran down his face stinging his eye's.

"I've only know her for a couple weeks..I-I can't just start going out with her can I?"

He rinsed his hair with water as he ran his finger's through.

"I don't think I could have a girlfriend after what happened last time..."

...

After drying himself off he quickly changed into his school uniform placed his flat-cap onto his head and packed his bag.

"Oh yeah-" James suddenly remembered as he walked over to his windowsill and picked up the customised star carving.

The star shined in the light with it's glossy paintwork and vibrant colors. He was very pleased with the finished piece.

"I'm sure Ryou or Kotomi will like the look of this!" he giggled placing the customised star into his bag making sure also that his wallet was also inside. He then put the bag around himself straightened his uniform and grabbed his sketch-pad.

Grabbing a piece of paper and a pen he left his bedroom and walked near to the door and quickly wrote down a note for his mum to see.

 _Gone to school will be back later (Love from James xxx)_

Leaving the note on the side table where the phone was he unlocked the door walked through it locked the door and put the key's through the letterbox proceeding to make his way to the stair's leaving the flat and heading school.

...

Kyou gave a loud sigh brushing off her skirt as she prepared to walk out of the house. She turned to the wall and looked at herself in the mirror. Her eye's were red raw she hadnt slept at all during the night after her mother accompanied her sister to the hospital. A message had been left on the answering machine explaining Chiyo would return at some point within the afternoon but would stay with Ryou for the time being.

As she turned her head back towards the door she slowly grabbed onto the door-knob opened the door and stepped outside.

"Stay here till mummy comes home Botan!"

A faint " _Puhi Puhi!_ "could be heard from inside the house as Kyou locked the door. She took a deep breath taking a few steps forward and looked up at the bright blue sky gazing at the white fluffy clouds as they drifted silently through the air while she clutched her hand's trying to decide her ultimate fate for the foreseeable future.

...

James walked closer to the school becoming closer and closer to the pathway where the cherry tree's bloomed. The air felt faintly warm as the wind blew in a silent howl students from Sophomore Junior and Senior classes walked up the hill chatting about various things while James walked alone.

It was thing's like this that made him think about how small he was in the grand scheme of things.

He gave a loud sigh placing his hand on his chest "I guess since I'm early I'll head off to the library"

As he took another step further he began to feel butterflies in his stomach as he felt the kiss from the night before.

"I need to keep myself calm!" He said to himself in his head forcing himself to continue on despite his anxiety issues "It may not have even meant to have been a romantic kiss. I mean the french kiss each other on the cheek after all..."

...

He stood in front of the door's of the old library. Brushing off his uniform removing his flat-cap and straightening his hair he placed his hand onto the wooden door pushed it forward entering the room.

As always a dead silence filled the room as he looked around. He'd never seen anyone else use the library other than himself and Kotomi. It would seem just from his own experience the second library run by Yukine Miyazawa was more often used.

He quickly made a mental note upon thinking about Yukine as he wanted to talk to her about her " _friends_ " that he'd had an unfortunate encounter with the other day.

He took a step forward and walked to Kotomi's usual spot and there she was as expected engrossed in a text book. He cleared his throat as he began to feel hot under the collar loosening a couple buttons on his uniform and pulling out the top of the blue jumper trying to cool himself down.

He kneeled down onto the floor sitting next to kotomi as he opened his mouth to speak his heart began to race as he looked upon her face remembering how she had appeared to him with her hairstyle dropping down looking almost like a completely different person.

"I wouldn't mind if she had her hair down like that more often" he cleared his throat trying to remain calm. Collecting all the courage within him he slapped his hand onto Kotomi's shoulder.

"Kotomi-Chan!"

There was a faint gasp as she slowly removed the book away from her gaze placing it upon the floor and turned her head to James before blushing violently and turning herself away from him.

"H-hi James!" she mumbled as she moved herself a few inches away from him as she looked at her fingers proceeding to wrap her arm's around her chest.

"Hey Kotomi" James cleared his throat as he felt butterflies in his stomach and a slight feeling of worry as he watched her move away from him.

"S-so-" he covered his mouth with a fake cough trying to hide his blushing face "How are you?"

"Good"

He didn't know how to reply. He felt as if he were being strangled as his throat and chest tightened his rapid breathing increasing with every passing moment.

"I-" James rubbed his throat trying to remove the sensation of being strangled "I-um-I-"

He couldn't think of what to say to her next as Kotomi still kept her eyes away from him.

"I gotta clear this up!" he thought as he thumped his chest "Man up James!"

Without giving much thought he grabbed Kotomi's arm attempting to pull her towards him.

" _ **Kotomi do you like me?!**_ " __he exclaimed louder than he meant to with his words echoing through the room. Kotomi forced her arm away from him placing it back around her chest as she tilted her head forward covering her blushing face into her arm's.

"Kotomi?" Concerned James moved his hand up towards her back as he faintly rubbed it attempting to comfort her.

"If-" Kotomi removed her head from her arm's and looked at James with a glare of anxiety "If it's about me kissing you yesterday it was only meant as a thank you"

"Oh" James's hand fell from Kotomi's back as it crept back towards him as he mumbled in response feeling a sence of relife but also heart broken at the same time.

"Fine" James cleared his throat as he moved himself back up straightening his uniform. Kotomi moved closer towards his legs and tugged her hand on his trousers.

"Please!" Kotomi sniffled "I'm sorry I gave you the wrong idea I-"

"No no no it's fine it was my own stupid fault!" he interrupted in a faintly sarcastic tone as he turned himself around heading towards the door clutching his fist in frustration and anger.

"I was an idiot to think she was interested in me! What am I thinking no girl is ever gonna like me-heck if a girl at this school did like me I'd know!"

The door slammed shut it's sound echoing as Kotomi tilted her head into her chest.

"I'm sorry James!" she whimpered as a tear ran down her cheek "But I just don't want to lose _another_ loved one"

...

James entered the classroom grumbling to himself. He glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was five minutes until lesson's were to start.

Throwing his bag over to his chair he walked towards his desk and covered his face with his arm's.

He heard faint footsteps enter the room becoming louder and louder until James felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Wake up man" A familiar voice called to him.

"I'm not sleeping" James grunted as he moved his head and saw Okazaki standing beside him. "What do you want anyway?"

"Lesson's are starting in a few minutes what did you expect?"

"Well you're a delinquent right?" James yawned rubbing his eye's "So you never show up to lesson's or whatever"

"I show up on occasion but don't really pay attention" he explained "beside's Sunohara is much worse"

"I see" James shrugged not exactly caring "How'd things go with that _ghost_ girl yesterday?"

Okazaki slammed his hand onto the desk with a loud thump accidently startling James as he pointed his finger at him "Come with me to the drama-club room at break! We'll discuss the situation there"

"Sure sure" James gave a slight nod as more students began to fill the room. "By the way-" James whispered to Okazaki as he looked at the door seeing which students were entering the room "Have you seen Ryou this morning?"

"Fujibayashi?" Okazaki questioned "No I've not seen her yet"

"Alright" James mumbled as he continued to watch the student's. "Not like her to be late though"

"Not exactly late"

"Even so-" James put his finger into his mouth thinking that it seemed usual still. "Never mind" he waved his hand over to Okazaki dismissing him.

James placed his hand inside his pocket searching for his phone. He quickly found it and hurriedly sent Ryou a text.

 _Where are you? Class is starting in a few minutes._

 _ **To be continued.**_

 _ **Author's note:**_

 _ **Bit of a shorter chapter this time but in my opinion it's one of the better written ones with it's description.**_

 _ **I've written down what I've got planned for the next few chapters making the writing process a lot easier and maybe (not promising anything) I may be uplaoding one chapter a week.**_

 _ **Also I just wanna say in case it was offensive I appologize about that comment regarding the french.**_


	22. Chapter 21: Explanations

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 21: Explanation's.**_

 _ **DING DONG DANG DANG**_

The bell rang loudly across the school with it's sound echoing throughout the hall's.

Before the teacher could even say " _Class Dismissed_ " the student's frantically raced out of the classroom and into the hallways and presumably towards the lunch room to snatch up the school's rather famous selection of bread.

James frantically packed his things in order to start the drama-club meeting as soon as possible as he wanted to know exactly what was going on with the so called _ghost girl_.

"Come on man" Okazaki gestured his hand towards the door walking over to it while james was franticly at work trying to make sure his bag was secure. "I'm coming" he sighed quickly running towards the door before turning himself around quickly and bowing in the direction of the the teacher "Thank you for the lesson sir!" he exclaimed upon deaf ears while Okazaki grabbed him by the back of the collar forcing him outside the classroom.

"Come on!"

...

They quickly reached the drama-club room with Okazaki still holding James by the collar.

"C-can you let go?" James choked tugging at his collar. Giving a loud sigh Okazaki released James proceeding to slide open the door to the room as he entered with James closely behind.

"Well you're in good spirits then!" Okazaki shrugged as they watched Fuko sitting at the table in the middle of carving another star with three others piled up on top of each other as Nagisa watched in amazement.

James looked upon the star carvings utterly stunned "Fuko did you really make all of these?"

"Fuko is trying to concentrate!" she whispered continuing to carve with her eye's fixed onto the block of wood that was slowly the taking shape of a star.

James and Okazaki pulled up a couple chairs and sat down at the table "Fuko's been making these since the moment she came in here" Nagisa explained "It's pretty amazing"

James quietly moved his hand over to the pile of carvings and very carefully picked one up gazing at it in amazement feeling it's smooth texture.

"Fuko t-this-this is fantastic!" James stuttered. Fuko tilted her head upwards her eyes glaring in James's direction "Thank you _weird hat guy_ " Fuko nodded and went back to carving.

"Weird hat guy?" James mumbled raising an eyebrow "Anyway-" he cleared his throat "What's with this whole ghost girl thing and what is the purpose of these star carvings"

Fuko suddenly jumped onto the table looking around in panic holding her knife in the air "There's a ghost?!" she exclaimed "The great Fuko shall destroy it!"

"Calm down Fuko!" Nagisa exclaimed standing up trying to take the knife away from Fuko trying not to lose an eye in the process. While they did this Okazaki grasped James's shoulder "I'll explain" he whispered "Just follow me to the door"

"Sure thing" James nodded standing up and walking with Okazaki towards the door.

"So here's what's going on-"

Okazaki explained to James how there had been a girl run over by a car three years ago named Fuko Ibuki who as far as everyone knew had been hospitalized in a coma ever since.

"Wait so if she's hospitalized-" James ran tugged at his fringe attempting to grasp the situation "-Then how is she here in the room with us now?"

"In my opinion she _isn't_ Fuko Ibuki. Perhaps there's some reason or something that happened that caused her to believe she's Fuko Ibuki"

"Right makes sense" James nodded

"But yesterday after you ran off-" Okazaki continued we spoke to _Kouko Ibuki_ and she told us about her wedding to a man named _Yusuke Yoshino_ but she'd only told her sister about it. No one else knew"

"This whole situation makes no sense" James murmured running his hand down his face.

"Exactly" Okazaki agreed "She's staying with the Furukawa's for now and we're going to be watching over Fuko and Nagisa for the time being"

" _We're?_ " James raised an eyebrow.

"Well you're helping out with the drama-club right-?" Okazaki glanced over at Nagisa and Fuko still fighting over the carving knife "Unless you've got nothing better to do you can help us?"

James shrugged "Yeah I suppose"

Okazaki gestured his hand towards the table and they proceeded to walk towards it with the carving knife in the middle while fuko had nagisa in a headlock whilst trying to reach the knife with nagisa holding her away.

"F-fuko shall destroy the ghost!" she exclaimed struggling to get past nagisa's grip.

"Both of you shut up and sit down!" Okazaki shouted clapping his hand's James quickly grabbed the knife placing it in his pocket while Fuko released nagisa and sat down obediently. "There is no ghost" Okazaki explained "Now Fuko explain to our friend James here why we're helping you out"

Fuko gave a slight nod to Okazaki and glared at James waving her hand towards him "Give me back my knife weird-hat guy!"

"The name's James" He grumbled taking the knife from his pocket "James Walker now take back the knife and please explain what's happening"

Fuko grasped the knife snatching it away took hold of her half finished star carving and continued to work as she explained the situation.

"The great Fuko is making these wonderful _starfish_ carvings to give to all the student's throughout the school so that they can attend my big sister's wedding!"

"I see-" James nodded as he turned to Okazaki "Does she always refer to herself in first person?" James whispered with Okazaki giving a thumb's up in response.

James rolled his eyes sighing "Gee this girl is weird" he shrugged "So how many of these carvings are you planning to make?"

" _Seven hundred_ "

James choked slightly upon hearing the amount that needed to be made "S-s-s-seven hundred?!"

"That's correct weird hat guy!" Fuko nodded "There are seven hundred students attending this school right now"

"And how many students have received these carvings so far?" James asked trying to ignore being called weird hat guy again.

"10%"

"Jesus this is gonna be a lot of work" James mumbled under his breath "So let me get this straight these-" James proceeded to reach over to the pile of star carvings and grabbed one "-are invitations to attend your sister's wedding?"

Fuko nodded "That's correct!" James slapped himself hard in the face with both hand's running down his face "Oh dear christ!" he muffled.

"What's wrong?" Nagisa asked curiously.

"W-well-" James stuttered clearing his throat and twiddled with his fingers "I received one of those carvings last week and I...I um.."

"What?" Okazaki asked

"I kinda customised it" he gulped nervously.

Fuko slammed her almost finished star carving onto the table and glared at James with a frown her eyes widening.

"What do you mean by _Customised_ weird hat guy?"

"It's..um-" James gulped nervously "It's where you take and object and modify it-"

Fuko know's what customise means!" she exclaimed while James stood up from his chair and hid behind Okazaki.

"Look in the bag" James whimpered as he pointed at his bag slumped onto the table.

Fuko quickly opened up his bag and searched through it quickly finding the customised star taking it out of the bag and showing it to Okazaki and Nagisa.

"Wow James you're amazing!" Nagisa exclaimed in awe "Yeah that's pretty good" Okazaki whispered while Fuko just stood staring at the carving.

"Oh god!" James hid further behind Okazaki's chair "I think she's gonna flip out!"

Fuko turned her head and glared at James with a frown "Weird hat guy!" she exclaimed "This customise star! It's-it's-"

"Please tell my mother I loved her!" James whispered covering his ears.

" _ **IT'S A MASTERPIECE!**_ " __Fuko exclaimed happily as James fell upon the floor and wiped his hand across his forehead giving a loud sigh "Oh thank god!"

 _ **DING DONG DANG DONG**_

"Well we'd better head back to class!" James murmured pulling himself up from the floor hurriedly brushing himself off and turning to Fuko who stood fixed upon the customised star in a complete trance.

"Um Fuko?" James walked over to her and patted her on the head "Hello?" he waved his hand to her "Anyone home?" Fuko still gave no reaction and James turned his head and looked at Okazaki and Nagisa worriedly "Is she ok?"

"She get's like this sometimes" Nagisa murmured while Okazaki sniggered "Hey James watch this"

Walking over to Fuko Okazaki searched through his pocket's and proceeded to bring out a carton of orange juice.

James raised an eyebrow curiously "What are you doing?"

"Just watch" he whispered as he straightened the bendy straw with James growing impatient "Hurry up Okazaki we have to get back to class!"

Okazaki inserted the straw into Fuko's nose and squeezed the carton. Within an instant Fuko came back to reality with Okazaki quickly hiding the carton behind his back.

Fuko looked around the room confused "My nose felt funny just now-" she mumbled wiping her nose "And my throat feels wet too"

"Yes!" Okazaki congratulating himself with a snort of laughter.

"Well that was weird" James shrugged.

"Okazaki stop it!" Nagisa exclaimed.

...

James hurried to class with Okazaki (reluctantly) following behind.

"I don't see what the big deal is!" Okazaki exclaimed trying not to crash into oncoming student's.

"Because-" James began to explain as he kept his hand on top of his head so that his flat-cap didn't fall off "If I'm late the teacher will scold me and I don't like people having a go at me"

"And you're making me run with you because?"

"Because there's no point being late if you can make it to class on time!" he gasped beginning to feel exhausted.

"No running in the hall!" they heard a student shout as they reached the classroom "T-ten minutes late!" James wheezed clutching his chest his heart beating with a loud echo his throat feeling dry "We'd have been here sooner if you hadnt done that weird trick with Fuko" James rolled his eyes as he knocked on the door and entered the classroom.

"S-sorry we're late sir!" he gasped bowing at the teacher who kept his attention on the blackboard "Just don't let it happen again Walker. I couldn't care less about Okazaki being late but from what your last school record's show me you were a model student"

"Y-yes sir" James nodded.

"I hope you can keep up your reputation here too now sit down"

"Yes sir!" James bowed hurriedly walking over to his seat and sat down. He glanced at the end of the classroom on the left and there was still no sign of Ryou.

"Is she sick or something?" he thought worriedly as he quietly and carefully searched through his pocket and brought out his phone. Hurriedly going through his contact's his began to send a text to Kyou.

 _Hey is Ryou in today? I've not seen her at all so I'm assuming she's ill?_

As soon as the text as sent he hurriedly put his phone back into his pocket.

...

 _ **DING DONG DANG DONG**_

The bell once again rang loudly throughout the school and as always before the teacher could even say " _class dismissed_ " the majority of student's one of which was James Walker had already left. He'd received a text from Kyou telling him to meet her up on the school roof during lunch. Wasting no time he hurriedly packed his stuff and left the classroom without even telling Okazaki that he'd be late to the drama-club meeting and might not possibly even be there at all.

Running as fast as he could stopping for no one knocking down jumping over and dodging a few students in the process along with ignoring the " _no running in hall_ " warning's that kept being shouted at him by student's as he raced by.

He soon reached the stairway and then the door to the roof. He stopped taking a deep breath he clutched his chest gasping and wheezing as sweat ran down his forehead his legs shaking slightly.

Catching his breath at last he pulled open the door and stepped outside. The howl of the roof filled in for what could have been the creepy silence while faint voices could be heard on the ground far below. Near the edge of the roof sitting down seemingly on a wooden bench completely oblivious was Kyou. She sat with her arm's around her chest looking down at the floor with her scarf wrapped around her neck. James thought to ask about the scarf but right now that seemed like the least of his worries. He wanted to know why Ryou wasn't at school. He was beginning to accept the worst. Had she just been away because of an illness Kyou wouldn't have called him up to the roof like this.

Brushing himself off straightening his flat-cap he took a deep breath slowly walking over to Kyou and grasped his hand around her shoulder.

"Kyou" he whispered to her but Kyou just sat on the bench without even reacting to his word's.

"Kyou?" he whispered to her again putting his other hand on her other shoulder "Kyou what's happened?"

Kyou's hand's suddenly grabbed James's arms as she began to cry suddenly standing up hugging him and burying her head into his chest.

"K-kyou what's wrong?!" he asked worried now anticipating the worst.

"I-it's Ryou!" she choked in a muffled tone as tears ran down her face "S-she had a panic attack!" her grip on James's arm's became painfully tight but James ignoring the pain wrapping his arms around Kyou "S-she couldn't breath and-" Kyou cleared her throat as continued to explain "-and she passed out!"

"Oh my god" James mumbled to himself with his eye's widening "Is she-"

"She's in the hospital!" she looked up at James wiping her eyes with her sleeve "M-mum's looking after her. I don't know when she'll be out!"

James hugged Kyou tighter stroking the back of her head "What caused the panic attack?" pushing him away she placed her left arm around her chest whilst rubbing her right arm "I-I-don-"

" _ **DON'T YOU DARE LIE TO ME!**_ " __he shouted with a slight growl grabbing her shoulder's digging his nails into them. Kyou's eye's widened in fear attempting to take a few steps back.

"It was-" Kyou took a deep breath trying to calm herself "It was because I tried to cut myself last night!"

James took a step back taking his hand's away from her shoulder's his eye's widening in shock "W-why did you try to cut yourself?"

"B-because I-" she took a deep breath as she prepared to explain the situation "Because I kissed a girl"

James looked at Kyou with a look of disgust and disbelief. That had been the reason Kyou had attempted to harm herself? That was the reason that Ryou was now in critical condition at the hospital?"

"So what are your telling me-" James took deep breath's trying to remain calm "Is you tried to harm yourself just because your reputation was at stake?!" he clenched his teeth with a faint growl.

Kyou nodded "I'm an idiot James"

"Kyou-" James whispered to her as she looked at him her eyes watery and bloodshot her face red with tear mark's "-Please forgive me!" he murmured.

 _ **TWAK!**_

James slapped Kyou hard on the cheek. She almost fell to the floor before being grabbed by James on the collar forcing her up against the wall lifting her off the ground by a few inches as her feet dangled in the air.

" _ **Are you f***ing stupid?!**_ " he shouted as Kyou tried to break free of James's grip. "J-james!" Kyou choked struggling "That hurt's!"

James gasped upon realizing what he was doing and released Kyou as she dropped to the floor and was caught by James before she could fall. "Y-you're right James!" she began to cry again feeling shaken up from James's outburst "I'm an idiot!"

Trying to remain calm James took a few deep breaths "Look Kyou-" he put his arm's around her hugging her again "I'm sure Ryou will be fine just trust me things will work out!"

"Yeah" she mumbled she wrapped her arm's around James hugging him tightly. "Your right thing's will work out" T-they'll get better and I just need to come out to Ryou and explain!" she buried her head into his chest as a few choked tears surfaced "I was stupid thinking of myself and my reputation!"

"All teenager's do it trust me!" James patted her on the head "In fact I remember when-" James stopped himself and shook his head trying not to recall a very recent bad memory from his last school "never mind"

"I was afraid-" Kyou gulped attempting to explain her actions "How people would react with the fact that I'm bisexual"

"Well no one really needs to know do they?" James put his hand's onto the side of Kyou's head and tilted it up in his direction so that they were eye to eye "Just tell people that you're close too like your sister"

"Yeah" Kyou murmured worriedly wondering how she'd react to such a thing.

"And if your friend's don't like the fact you're bisexual then screw them they're idiots!"

Kyou hugged James tighter. She felt comfortable talking to him about this. It was hard to believe just a few weeks earlier she had had a great dislike towards him.

"You're right James" she smiled at him as they released each other from the hug.

"And it's not like you're the only bisexual person!" he continued on "There's ton's of people just like you and whether it be a guy or a girl there's going to be _someone_ out there for you who will like you for who you are!"

"Thank's James" she smiled blushing slightly.

"I mean you're incredibly attractive and you have a nice bod-" James quickly cleared his throat blushing dark red "Ok ok I'll stop now I went a bit too far there" he covered his mouth with a fake cough.

Kyou tried to cover her mouth as she snorted with laughter. Quickly recovering she grabbed James by the collar and kissed him on the cheek. As she took a step back James redness increased "W-w-what was that for?" he gasped embarrassed.

"It's my little way of saying thank you" Kyou chuckled smiling "You're a great guy James! I mean you're a little violent but your kind and caring. I can see why Ryou view's you as a brother and any girl would be lucky to have you!"

"T-thanks!" James's redness was now coming to the point that he could feel smoke blowing from his ear's. He slammed his fist onto his chest and took a deep breath to relax himself "T-thanks Kyou but-" he looked up at the bright blue sky watching the cloud's silently pass by "I know that no girl at this school or anywhere would ever be interested in me in a romantic way"

Kyou glanced at James then turned her eye's to the floor

"There is a girl that likes you James" she whispered "But she's just too afraid to admit it"

"What was that?" James raised an eyebrow not having heard what kyou had said. She gave a light chuckle as she smiled at him "It's nothing"

"Ok..." James looked at her oddly as he let her go and brushed himself off "Anyway I imagine you're gonna wanna be alone for a bit so I'll-I'll just go"

"You won't be seeing much of me for a while James"

James looked at Kyou with a look of concern "What do you mean?"

"Don't get the wrong idea you'll still see me around but I want some time to myself just to think things through and sort out my problems."

"I see" James nodded "I just hope that you can sort your problems out. Just come to me if you need anything ok?"

"I will" Kyou smiled with a slight blush "I'm relieved that I've been able to talk to someone about this and I'm glad it was you"

James smiled as he turned to walk through the door.

"One more thing!" Kyou exclaimed touching James's shoulder "Can you look after Ryou for me when she recovers. Just watch over her for me ok?"

"Of course!" James smiled and left the roof making his way down the stairs heading for the drama-club room.

 _ **To be continued.**_

 _ **Authors Note:**_

 _ **Well I hope this chapter wasnt too over-dramatic toward's the end. I hope I've written Fuko's rather insane personality well since just from this one chapter alone she was a hard character to write for.**_

 _ **One more thing I wanna ask is do you people consider swearing in this story a problem? I'm not one for writing swearing for the sake of it only when I feel characters would genuenlly swear but on the few occasion's I've used the "F" word I've edited it slightly in case it's inappropriate.**_


	23. Chapter 22: Starfish meets Genius

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 22: Starfish girl meets girl Genius.**_

"S-sorry I'm late!" James gasped running into the drama club room with Okazaki Nagisa and Fuko all sat at the table carving more Starfish and before he could say anything further or even taken another step forward he suddenly found himself holding a thin plastic bag filled with a dozen blocks of wood scraps.

"You shall carve these in your spare time!" Fuko exclaimed pointing her finger at James with an intense glare. James chuckled nervously "T-thanks Fuko but-" James nervously cleared his throat "But I'm not too good at carving. I did it once during a taster day at college back home and it came out pretty poorly!"

"Don't worry James!" Nagisa smiled

"Yeah you can help us with handing these out to student's" Okazaki gave a thumb's up continuing to carve.

"No!" Fuko exclaimed jumping onto the table like a spoiled child "Fuko need's as much help as she can get so that she can carve seven hundred starfish for my big sister's wedding!" Fuko almost slipped off of the table before being caught my Okazaki.

"Gee calm down will you?" He exclaimed angrily "You're like a grade schooler or something!"

"How old is she anyway?" James asked curiously

"Believe it or not James she's the name age as me" Okazaki replied as James choked in surprise.

Fuko forced herself away from Okazaki's grip and stomped over to James with her hand on her hips "Fuko is very mature for her age!" she shouted tip-toeing to make it look like she and James were on equal ground.

"Whatever!" James scoffed placing the bag onto the floor as he turned towards the door wanting to get away from the weirdness that filled the room "Let me know when you guys want me to help pass those carvings around ok?"

"Stop!" Fuko exclaimed as like a bolt of lightning she moved herself in front of James blocking his only exit out of the room "Fuko shall teach you how to carve starfish!"

James sighed realizing that there was no way out of the situation "Fine!" he exhaled dropping his shoulders. "Look I know someone who may be able to help us but I'll need to talk to her about it first"

Fuko's expression turned into a bright smile as her eye's widened "You must introduce me to her right now!" Fuko exclaimed tugging at his sleeve.

 _ **DING DONG DANG DONG**_

"Well looks like it'll have to wait until after the next lesson!" James chuckled remarking the bad timing of the bell's chime.

James hurriedly helped Okazaki Nagisa and Fuko pack away the starfish carvings and clear away the sawdust. Hand's covered in the stuff James brushed himself off leaving dust on his trousers as Nagisa opened the door and they all proceeded to leave the room together.

"See you all later!" Nagisa smiled as she ran off to class while Fuko ran off presumably to find more wood scrap's leaving just Okazaki and James.

"Well let's head to class!" James clapped his hand's accidently sending up a cloud of sawdust making them choke and splutter.

"W-watch it man!" Okazaki spluttered covering his mouth "S-sorry!" James choked also covering his mouth.

They walked to class still coughing rapidly for the next few minutes and stopped to have a drink from a nearby water machine.

"The water tastes terrible but it's free!" Okazaki remarked drinking ice cold water for a cheap paper cup. James took out a cup and filled it with water. He shivered as the water entered his mouth. Ice cold and tasting worse than tap water he gulped the rest down just so he could feel refreshed.

"So who is it that you think can help with the carving?" Okazaki asked as he began to walk again. "I'll tell you later!" James shivered following behind "Let's just get to class ok?"

...

 _ **DING DONG DANG DONG**_

Class had ended and after waiting patiently for the crowd to decrease James and Okazaki made their way towards the door.

"Weird hat guy!" Fuko exclaimed blocking the exit to the door.

"Will you stop calling me that!" James grumbled.

"I forgot your name" Fuko replied.

"It's _James_. _James Walker_!" He replied pulling at his sideburns.

"James Walker" Fuko mumbled giving herself a mental note before returning her attention to James "You will introduce me to this girl!" she exclaimed excitedly and impatiently.

"So who do you think can help us?" Okazaki asked with interest but before James could answer he was being dragged forcefully at rapid speed by Fuko across the corridor.

"Stop Fuko!" James shouted as they crashed into oncoming student's throwing them onto the wall along the way "Do you even realize where we're suppose to be going?!"

They suddenly came to a screeching halt with James crashing into Fuko and colliding onto the floor.

"Argh crap" James grumbled under his breath "I swear this is starting to become a recurring thing!"

As they both straightened up and brushed themselves off Fuko tugged at James's sleeve "Where are we meant to be going?"

"Well if you'd let me tell you a few seconds earlier instead of just racing through the school like _Sonic the fecking Hedgehog_ you'd have known!"

"Don't patronise Fuko!" She exclaimed pointing her finger at his nose "Just tell me where I can meet this friend of yours!"

"In the old library"

Fuko tugged at James's sleeve and within a fraction of a second they were at the door of the old library.

James took a step-back in shock "T-this-" he stuttered "This girl isn't human!" grabbing Fuko's arm forcing her grip on his sleeve away he pushed opened the door signaling her to be quiet as they both entered the room.

"Ok" James whispered as Fuko followed behind looking around seemingly under the impression that they were being watched "She should be over here"

James turned a corner and as expected Kotomi sat down crouched onto the floor reading a text book.

"Kotomi-Chan!" James called out to her as he suddenly began to feel butterflies in his stomach remembering his actions earlier in the day.

Kotomi gave a faint gasp with her face blushing a light pink. She was clearly feeling uncomfortable around him. Gulping nervously she turned her head towards James as her blushing increased "Y-y-yes James?" she stuttered.

"Please accept this!" Fuko exclaimed rushing towards Kotomi crouching down holding a starfish carving right into her face before James could even say anything further.

Kotomi stared at the carving nervously for a few seconds before turning her head up to James "Is she a bully?"

"No!" James exclaimed trying not to laugh.

"What's your relationship with this girl?" Fuko asked curiously turning her head to James.

"I...um.." James blushed a light pink playing with his fingers "I really don't know" he murmured.

"We're just friends!" Kotomi exclaimed still blushing violently. She turned direction back to the star carving and took hold of it.

"A star?"

"It's a starfish!" Fuko exclaimed as Kotomi curiously examined the carving "Starfish certain cultures call them a sea-star while appearing dossel it is actually carnivorous you mean that starfish?"

"Uh..." James scratched his head trying to understand what Kotomi had just told them while Fuko gave a loud gasp in surprise grabbing James by the collar and shaking him as his head danced around "Terrific!" Fuko exclaimed happily "This starfish person is more knowledgeable about star fish than even I am!"

"Yeah well can you not shake me like a damn rag doll when you get excited?!" James exclaimed angrily feeling a headache beginning to surface. "Anyway she is a genius so it makes sense that she'd know so much about star fish after all!"

"Actually I'm not too knowledgable about animals" Kotomi replied.

"That's not true smarty girl!" Fuko exclaimed crouching back down towards Kotomi "Please will you accept this gift to attend my sister's upcoming wedding to her precious fiance?!"

"So this is a present for a wedding invitation?" Kotomi asked still looking at the star curiously.

"Yes!" they both nodded.

"Now to the matter at hand!" Fuko exclaimed before anything else could be said about the wedding.

"Matter at hand?" Kotomi asked curiously.

"W-well-" James stuttered nervously as he started to explain about the wedding and needing to carve seven hundred starfish to give to every student throughout the school.

"So you want me to help you carve them?"

"If you please could Kotomi!" James exclaimed as the feeling of butterflies in his stomach increased and he began to feel a tightening sensation in his throat "F-fuko really need's to have all these carvings made in time for the wedding and she need's as much help as she can get!"

"Please smarty girl!" Fuko exclaimed jumping excitedly.

Kotomi considered for a few moments before nodding with a smile "Of course I'll help!"

"Yay!" Fuko exclaimed loudly startling James and Kotomi " yes yes yes yes!"

"W-whoa Fuko calm down!" James exclaimed grasping her shoulder's trying to calm her down. "Sorry but I'm so excited!" Within second's Fuko suddenly turned into her strange trance that Okazaki had snapped her out of earlier.

"Is she ok?" Kotomi asked worriedly proceeding to stand up and brushed herself off "Yeah she'll be alright" James sighed straightening his flat-cap whilst still feeling rather nervous.

"Kotomi-" James cleared his throat nervously as he lightly grabbed her arm "I'm sorry for my outburst this morning-"

"No no it was my fault!" she interrupted blushing violently as she took hold of James's hand tightly "I shouldn't have given you the wrong idea" she looked at James her eye's widening "Are we still friends?"

James chuckled patting her on the head "Of course!" he laughed "I honestly thought _you_ were the one that wouldn't want to be friends!"

Fuko suddenly came out of her trance looking around franticly "What just happened?" she asked innocently.

James and Kotomi chuckled "It's nothing Fuko!" James laughed "So tomorrow you're ok with teaching me how to carve-oh!" he turned his head to Kotomi "Do you actually know how to carve Kotomi?"

"Um...actually...no" Kotomi chuckled under her breath blushing and playing with her hair "Can you also teach me Fuko?"

Fuko nodded putting her hand on her hips "The great Fuko shall teach you how to master the art of carving starfish!"

"Should we find a room too?" James asked "I don't think the staff would be happy finding a bunch of saw dust scattered around the library.

"I agree!" Kotomi nodded "We'll search tomorrow!"

"Then it's all set!" Fuko smiled giving a thumbs up.

 _ **Ding Dong Dang Dong**_

"Well-" James sighed releasing his grip on Kotomi and brushing himself off "I'd better be heading back to class"

Fuko suddenly gave a loud gasp hurriedly running out of the library "Fuko must get back to making starfish!" she exclaimed as her voice became fainter and fainter with every step.

James chuckled under his breath and straightened his flat-cap "Kotomi" James cleared his throat "Do you wanna walk home together when school ends? I'll meet you here if you can"

Kotomi's eye's looked around the room as she played with her hair "I would love to James but I'm actually pretty busy with school work today"

"It's fine!" James assured her "We can walk together some other time" As he turned to leave the room a bulb lit off in his head "Oh by the way!" he exclaimed turning his direction back towards her "Mum says she want's to apologize to you about what she said"

Kotomi began rubbing her arm nervously signalling to James that she was still feeling hurt over what Victoria had said to her "T-that's good!" she stuttered "I'll talk to your mum when I have the time"

"Sure thing!" James smiled giving a thumb's up and hurrying out of the room "See you tomorrow!"

...

After that James returned to class for the final lesson of the day. Afterwards the bell rang one last time and he hurriedly packed away his belongings and headed for home with a lot of things on his mind.

His actions towards Kotomi his conversation with Kyou and hoping that Ryou would be ok in hospital as well as him helping out Fuko with the star carving's.

He reached the flat his eye's heavying and desperately feeling the need to sleep James stretched his arms and legs with a loud yawn as he slowly crept up the long flight of stairs.

After what seemed like ages he reached his area of the flat knocked on the door three times and entered his home.

"I'm back mum!" James shouted across the room whilst removing his shoes and placing them on the shoe-rack.

"Welcome home luv!" Victoria exclaimed walking in from the kitchen "Now I want you to have a shower and get dressed in smart clothes for tonight!"

"Why?" James raised an eyebrow curiously.

"I popped round that bakery um-" Victoria scratched her head trying to remember it's name.

" _The Furukawa Bakery_ " James reminded her.

"Yes that was it!" she chuckled "I was round there this afternoon buying a loaf of bread and they kindly invited us to have dinner with them tonight at 7:00"

"Oh!" James gasped surprised "Well that'll be interesting. I'll go and get undressed and have a shower in a few minutes!"

 **To be Continued.**

 **Authors note:**

 **Hopfully you people found this to be another enjoyable chapter and we're starting to finally get deeper into the Fuko arc (Taken almost a year to even get to that part of the damn story!) as well as certain story elements exclusive to this fanfiction coming into fruition.**

 **I am actually going to be taking a short break from writing this story but only for a little while. I've been posting at least one chapter a week and I'm begining to feel a little burned out but dont worry I will be back with Chapter 23 soon!**

 **I'm interested to know where people feel this story is going. I know most of you think James will end up with either Ryou or Kotomi but other than that what are you all hoping for in this story. What do YOU people want to see? or read in this case. Feel free to let me know.**


	24. Chapter 23: Dinner with the Furukawa's

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 23: Dinner with the Furukawas.**_

James and Victoria walked through the street with little to no noise as the wind howled with the occasional car driving past it's bright light's hurting their eye's for a fraction of a second as it drove by with their only other light source being the poorly lit street lights.

James uncomfortable tugged at his collar. His mother had made him wear a mint-green button shirt with fresh light blue trousers and the usual black shoes which had been neatly polished in preparation. She'd told him to button up his shirt all the way and it was beginning to feel uncomfortable as the collar pressed against his throat practically strangling him as well as the sence of intense heat that gave him the feeling of wanting to vomit.

Victoria was dressed in a knitted white coat with golden metal buttons with a pink top black silky trousers and brown sandals with white socks. She'd straightened her hair so it was nicely combed and had polished her glasses making them shine in the moonlight.

"You can unbutton one of your button's if it'll stop you grumbling like a child!" Victoria growled under her breath frustrated that she couldn't figure out her sence of direction in the dark.

"I'm not grumbling!" James whined as he unbuttoned his collar rubbing his neck and tugging at his shirt to let some cool air in. "If I remember correctly it's down this way!" James pointed his finger to a corner proceeding to turn left whilst making a mental note to ask Nagisa for her phone number at some point in case he'd need to come to the bakery for dinner again and ask for directions.

Turning the corner they came across a large brightly lit building. It was the Furukawa Bakery. They congratulated themselves silently as they walked further. They covered their eyes as they entered under the bright light James then knocked on the door and opened it as the bell clanged loudly as they entered the store.

"Oh it's nice and warm in here!" Victoria remarked with a hint of gratitude in her voice.

"Welcome!" Both Akio and Senae exclaimed with cheerful smiles as they walked in through the backroom.

"Thank you for having us" Victoria smiled offering a handshake while James bowed and mumbled the same word's nervously.

"Oh don't worry about it it's no trouble at all" Sanae replied gesturing them to come into the backroom. "Yeah it's a privilege to know people from abroad and we just hope that you're settling in alright"

Whilst the adult's spoke James walked into the backroom which was of regular size for a room. The traditional Japanese style with shiny glass windows and a wooden frame pattern. In the corner of the room stood a 4:3 inch television set on a black wooden bookcase with a shelf below showcasing a VHS/DVD Player. Another bookcase stood nearer to the kitchen door with a phone and a couple of photograph's standing silently.

A table stood in the middle of the room meaning that they would be sitting on the floor to eat which both James and Victoria felt uncomfortable with due to being used to sitting on chairs for eating dinner.

"If you guys want me can give you some chairs to sit on" Akio spoke whilst smoking a cigarette before taking it out of his mouth putting it out and throwing it into a bin.

James felt a sigh of relief upon hearing that they could sit on chairs on this occasion but before he could even say " _yes please thank you!_ " Victoria gave a loud chuckle "Oh no no we're in Japan now so we should try to get more accustomed to your customs and traditions.

James gave another sigh as his head dropped down and mumbled " _you fool!_ " under his breath.

"You sure?" Sanea asked curiously "We really don't want you to feel uncomfortable on our account"

"Oh no it's fine!" Victoria smiled while James lightly facepalmed himself.

Whilst they spoke Akio walked over to the doorway of the kitchen " _Nagisa_ , _Fuko_ , _Kid_! Our guests have arrived!"

James walked over to the kitchen door. He hadn't expected Fuko or Okazaki to be here too. Upon entering the kitchen he saw all three of them working at the oven's with boiling pots and an orange light could be seen from inside the oven with some kind of steel bowl inside. What the content's of it were inside James could not see.

In the middle of the room stood four wooden chairs around a wooden table "Why can't we just sit on these chairs?" James murmured under his breath. On top of the table stood a large plate filled with sushi and a disorganized pile of starfish carving's.

"H-hey guys" James cleared his throat giving a light wave.

Nagisa turned her heared and smiled "Hi James!" whilst Okazaki merely mumbled "hey man" as he continued on with the cooking while Fuko franticly prepared plates and cutlery.

"Out of the way Weird ha-" Fuko cleared her throat urgently "Out of the way James!" she exclaimed running out of the kitchen with seven plates and 20 pieces of silverware.

"Do you guys want any help?" James asked as Fuko ran back into the kitchen quickly running back out to place the sushi onto the table.

"Don't worry James I think we're fine!" Nagisa shouted from inside the kitchen "Besides you're our guest so it would be wrong to make you do some of the work.

James sighed walking over to the table and arranging the plates that Fuko had left in a pile on the table.

"So how are you settling in?" James heard Sanae talking to his mum in the front area of the store. He carefully moved closer to the front area trying not to be seen as he attempted to listen to the conversation.

"Oh we've been doing fine!" Victoria chuckled "James has been doing so well at his new school oh I'm so proud of my son!"

"Yeah you make it sound like I'm a f***ing five year old mum!" James thought as his face blushed a light red from embarrassment.

"He's made a few friends quickly which surprised me because back home he'd always found it difficult"

"Like I told you he's friends with our daughter and her friend's that are here too" Akio explained "So it seems your son really seems to be settling in well"

"So what about yourself Victoria?" Sanea asked as James moved himself nearer but also out of sight not wanting to be seen. He'd been sure that there was something wrong with his mother some kind of illness that she wasn't telling him about.

"Oh I'm fine just fine!" she chuckled "Still trying to get use to everything but I've been very poorly so I've not been able to go outside much as you know"

Sanae glanced around the room to make sure James or anyone else wasn't listening in. She then whispered to Victoria "If you don't mind me asking what do you think your illness is?"

Victoria's eye's widened with a look of worry as an uncomfortable feeling filled the room.

"Well I've been going to the doctor's while James has been at school-"

"What?!" James choked quickly covering his mouth hoping he wasn't heard.

"They've suggested that I go to a clinic in a few weeks and hopefully then I will definitely know what's wrong with me but-" Victoria paused sniffling as her eyes began to tear up "But I think it might be-"

"Dinner will be ready in five minutes!" Nagisa shouted from the kitchen over Victoria's voice making James unable to hear the last of his mother's words.

"Damn you Nagisa!" James grumbled under his breath.

"Oh my god!" Sanae gasped shocked covering her mouth before embracing Victoria in a tight hug.

"If there's anything you need at all we'll be happy to help you out" Akio assured her.

"Thank you" Victoria sniffled wiping her eye's "I've not told James. I don't want him to worry! Understandably he get's emotional about these kind's of things and I don't want to upset him" Victoria's shoulder's began to shake violently as tears started to run heavily down her face "My poor son's been through enough already at his last school!" she choked as she removed her glasses and covered her teary face.

"We won't tell him or the others about any of this" Akio assured her as he took her glasses wiping them clean with a cloth.

"T-thank you!" Victoria choked wiping her eyes as she took her glasses back from Akio and proceeding to give a fake smile "Shall we be seated at the table?"

Sanae hugged Victoria again as she herself tried not to cry whilst James made his way towards the dinner table trying not to be caught eavesdropping.

...

Everyone sat at the table and started to eat. Not much conversation had occurred whilst they ate. James and Victoria had tried Sushi for the first time and it was proper sushi not the half cooked sort that he could buy over at " _Sainsburys_ " back home but in fact proper raw fish.

Although the flavor and feel of the raw fish had made him feel a little queasy at first James had found it quite tasty whilst Victoria had to run into the bathroom and proceeded to vomit into the sink for which she apologized for numerous times.

"So Mrs Walker" Nagisa spoke up passing her a glass of water "Tell us about yourselves. What were your lives like back in england?"

"Oh yeah come to think of it you haven't told us anything about yourself" Okazaki murmured looking at James whilst Fuko nodded "Fuko is most interested" she spoke glancing at James.

"You can go first mother" James mumbled playing with his fingers as he began to feel uncomfortable.

"Well-" Victoria thought placing her finger on her lower lip "We had good lives there...I'm not entirely sure what else to say"

"Fuko would like to know why you moved to Japan?" Fuko stated raising her hand as Victoria gave a nervous chuckle "W-well I-I don't want to go into full details but I've been under a lot of stress lately with family members and accusations and the like"

"I guess they're a dysfunctional family" Okazaki shrugged.

"As for me-" James cleared his throat "I think I had a good life back home. I had a few friends at school and we'd spent our break times chatting about Sci-Fi shows Superheros comic books and video games-" he began feeling even more uncomfortable as his stomach tingled "but even though I'm gonna miss the school and all my friends there I'm glad I left...it was getting very stressful"

Victoria nodded silently "Yes it was getting very stressful" she began to explain "He's had his father moaning at him on the phone he's had to look after me when I've been too unwell and a couple boy's at the school had been bullying him"

"Mum can we not-"

"There was a horrible incident just before he left where one of the boy's tried to beat him up on the school bus and the teachers had to barricade him inside a classroom"

Everyone gasped in shock whilst James kept his eye's glued on his twiddling fingers not wanting to look up at anyone.

"From what the teachers told me it was all to do with this one girl that James had dated for about a week. She'd been stringing him along for a few weeks afterwards and-"

" _ **CHANGE THE F***ING SUBJECT WOMAN!**_ "

James slammed his fist onto the table as all the crockery and cutlery clanged on the table. Everyone except Victoria just stared at James shocked by his sudden uncharacteristic outburst.

"James!" Victoria exclaimed with a frown "How dare you talk like that in someone's home let alone to your own mother?!"

"S-sorry" James mumbled with a feeling of embarrassment and foolishness.

"I should hope you are!" Victoria grumbled.

"I-I-I-I'm just going to use the loo for a few minutes" James bowed as he left the table resisting the urge to cry. He walked into the bathroom and sat on the toilet-seat and silently clapped his hand's.

James would often go into the bathroom at home or even sometimes at school just to clear his mind of all the bad things that had happened or were happening around him. He couldn't explain it but he felt comfortable in a nice quiet area like this where he could just relax and think things through.

"Why did she have to bring up that f***ing whore!" James thought in his mind as he tried to relieve the anger that he was feeling inside himself. All the memories of helping out the girl that he had hoped would go out with him only for it to turn out that she had been using him and stringing him along.

"I told mum to act like I never went out with her!" James growled as he stood up and ran a tap of cold water. He wet his hand's and slapped ice cold water onto his face before drying himself off with a tea-towel.

He looked at himself in the mirror. His eye's were becoming pink and would soon become bloodshot his hair was messy from walking outside and it looked as though his sideburns needed a little trim. As he put his hand around his chin he considered the idea of growing a beard at some point.

"I'd probably look like a young _Anthony Ainley_!" he laughed.

There was a sudden knock on the door "James are you ok?" it was Nagisa "Y-yeah I'm fine!" he exclaimed brushing himself off "Just coming out now!"

He grasped the handle and turned it opening the door with a faint " _click_ " coming from it as he stepped outside where Nagisa stood.

"Are you ok James?" she asked concerned "You were in there for almost ten minutes"

"Yeah-yeah I'm fine" he sighed "Look um don't tell anyone about this but sometimes when I feel kinda upset or need to think things through I'll just go into the bathroom. Nice and quiet you know?"

"Yeah" Nagisa nodded although James was unsure if she truly understood what he meant by that.

...

They walked back into the front room. Victoria Sanae and Akio had gone into the kitchen to talk and before James could even consider eavesdropping on them again Fuko had grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the spare room upstairs where all the star carvings were being made.

"Um-" James cleared his throat "Should you guys be helping with the washing up first?"

"No time!" Fuko exclaimed "It will be done but first Fuko must teach you how to carve starfish!" Fuko placed a carving knife into James's hand.

"Oh god" he mumbled nervously. He hated having to work with anything like this due to the danger. What if he lost a finger or his entire hand? He could just imagine coming into school with a cybernetic hand looking like a member of _The Borg Collective_ from _Star Trek: The Next Generation_.

"Don't worry James you'll get the hang of it" Nagisa smiled whilst carving.

"Trust me it's not as hard as it looks" Okazaki assured him.

James sighed bending down onto the floor grabbing a square block of wood. "Ok Fuko show me how I do this!"

James observed Fuko as she showed his how to carve the star. He could tell that she was talented and highly skilled at the art of carving since what would have taken up at least half an hour was done within the space of three minutes!

"Now just do exactly as I did there" Fuko ordered passing him the carving knife. He took the knife and held onto a block of wood eyeing both thing's nervously.

"O-ok-" He stuttered "Here I go"

He began to scrape the wood. It was sort of like peeling a potato in a way except the surface was hard and difficult to cut where as a potato peel would cut away like melted butter. As James carved away trying his best to make a starfish shape he thought about when he had had to carve during college taster days at school.

The teacher ( _in his opinion_ ) would nitpick every small mistake that he made and to make matters worse one student that would mouth off to everyone would call his work "atrocious" but even so he had continued despite everything. The teacher would frustrate him to no end and James would often mumble things like " _Oh shut your mouth you imbecile!_ " or " _piss off_ " but maybe he'd been arrogant.

After all one does not become a master of the arts simply within a day. If that were possible everyone could do it. James knew he had a gift mainly for drawing and painting but he would still at times let his own arrogance and ego get the better of him. Perhaps it would be due to spending hours on a drawing and the fact that all someone could do was criticize it filled him with rage.

A similar thing had happened to him when he went for a coffee with Tomoyo two days earlier.

" _Well…I'm no artist but...I think you're good but you need improvement_ "

Those words had frustrated him to no end. How she'd told him that the tree's in his drawing had looked too large and the chair's looked too small. Then she had had the nerve to ask whether or not James was the type of guy who _couldn't_ accept constructive criticism.

"Maybe...maybe she's right about that" he thought as the knife slipped from his grip and sliced his left hand leaving a long scar.

James screamed in pain whilst Nagisa and Okazaki rushed to get the first aid kit "I knew this would happen!" James shouted clenching his teeth "I knew this would happen oh god kill me now just kill me now!"

Victoria Akio and Sanae hurriedly rushed into the room "What's going on?!" they all shouted at once.

"I just sliced my damn hand!" James exclaimed as blood ran down his hand. He suddenly felt a weird slimy ticklish feeling on his bloodied hand "Arg Fuko don't lick the damn blood!"

"Sorry I just had the sudden urge to lick it"

"Let me look!" Victoria exclaimed hurriedly crouching down to James "Oh it's only a small cut" she sighed rolling her eyes.

"Yeah well it feel's like hell woman!" James thought as Nagisa and Okazaki ran into the room with a first aid kit.

They ran the cut under a cold tap and put a white cloth over his hand. "Be careful when washing your hand's now James" Nagisa assured him whilst trying to remain calm "Be careful that it doesn't get infected.

"Yeah yeah" he grunted as he looked at his bandaged hand examining it. He could still feel the sting of the blood coming into contact with the air but it was gradually fading away.

Nagisa bent down and grabbed James's star carving. He'd carved a faint curve in the corner which had he continued would have soon formed into the edge of a star.

"Pretty good for a first try James" Nagisa smiled while Okazaki nodded in agreement.

"Well I'll just continue work on that tomorrow" he assured them "Sorry I just got a little distracted whilst I was carving.

Victoria glanced at her watch "Oh my it's almost 9:00!" she exclaimed surprised before turning to Akio and Sanae bowing her head "Thank you for inviting me and my son and I hope to invite all of you to dinner sometime over at the flat!"

"Oh it was nothing" Akio nodded "We just wanted to welcome you to the country after all" Sanae smiled as she walked out of the room "Wait here a moment please" she exclaimed whilst Nagisa and Akio glanced out of the door nervously.

"Ok" Akio whispered into Victoria's ear "Take the bread she gives you just don't eat it"

Victoria looked at Akio curiously whilst James tried to remember whether or not he had actually tried her bread at all.

"Excuse me Mrs Walker" Fuko spoke up whilst holding a starfish carving "Please accept this"

Victoria looked at the carving curiously as Fuko placed it into her hand's "W-well-" Victoria stuttered adjusting her glasses "Thanks that's very kind of you um-"

"Fuko" she replied "I'm Fuko Ibu-" Fuko bit her lip as she forced herself to stop talking "I'm _Fuko Isogai_!"

"Fuko Isogai?" James whispered to Okazaki "I thought her last name was Ibuki?"

"I'll explain tomorrow" Okazaki assured him.

"Oh!" Victoria exclaimed surprised "I was under the impression that you were the Furukawa's other daughter!"

Everyone laughed until Sanae came into the room carrying a thin plastic bag filled with various pastries "Here you go" she smiled as Victoria passed the starfish carving over to James and took hold of the bag.

"Well thank you all very much" Victoria chuckled "And as I said I hope that all of you will be able to come over to the flat for dinner sometime! It'd be the least we could do!"

"Mrs Walker" Fuko spoke up in a quiet tone tugging at Victoria's sleeve "Please will you accept that starfish carving as an invitation to attend my sister's wedding?"

"Oh?" Victoria raised an eyebrow curiously "W-well I-i"

"I'll explain as we go mother" James assured her putting his arm around her waist and helping her out of the room.

They walked outside of the bakery as everyone waved goodbye as James and Victoria headed for home.

 _ **To be continued.**_

 _ **Authors Note: I appologize for the delay in posting this chapter. I've been busy with exam's as well as life in general. Now that I have finished college for the summer I will hopfully be able to continue work on this story with much more free time but we shall see.**_


	25. Chapter 24: The start of another day

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 24: The start of another day.**_

Brushing himself off James grabbed the door handle proceeding to make his way to school.

"James-" Victoria spoke in a quiet tone as she grasped her hand around James's shoulder "I'm going to the hospital today so I might not be home when you finish school"

James nodded with a faint " _mmhhh_ " but in his mind he felt it ironic and rather _too coincidental_ that she was telling him about going to the doctors now whereas before she had been keeping this a secret from him for who knows how long.

Perhaps she had realised or had rightly assumed that James had eavesdropped on the conversation between herself Akio and Sanae last night.

" _They've suggested that I go to a clinic in a few weeks and hopefully then I will definitely know what's wrong with me but-but I think it might be-_ "

Now if only Nagisa hadnt unintentionally interrupted the conversation he would have found out what _might_ have been wrong with his mother.

Perhaps he would find out soon but for now he concentrated on heading off to school as he walked out of the flat and headed down the long flight of stairs.

...

"James!" a familiar voice cried out. James turned around to see Kyou running towards him.

"Oh hey" he said in a sort of grumbled voice "Thought I wouldn't be seeing much of you after yesterday?" he finished the sentence in a sarcastic tone.

Kyou stopped to catch her breath for a moment before looking at James with a concerned look "I know but you're gonna want to hear this" she began to explain "Ryou should be out of the hospital soon perhaps in a day or two!"

A smile came upon his lips "That's great!" he sighed relieved that she was alright after all the dramatic stuff that had happened to her "Anyway I'll see you at school"

Before he could even turn around again to continue walking Kyou had already grasped his shoulder tightly "Wait a second!" she exclaimed with a hint of urgency in her voice "There's...there's something else-" her voice become fainter as those words left her mouth and her eye's darted away from his direction.

"What?" James asked puzzled "What else is there?"

Kyou took a deep breath and tilted her head to James's direction "It's my mum she-" James could tell that a large amount of anxiety was trying to force Kyou to stop explaining the situation but nevertheless forced herself to continue on "She want's to have a _word_ with your mum!"

"Why?"

"Well it's not going to be easy to explain so I'll show you what happened." Kyou began to unravel the scarf around her neck and showed him the mark's around her throat which now were only a light red colour. He gave a silent gasp putting his hand over his mouth.

"My god!" he shouted in a muffled voice "My mum she didn't strangle you did she?!"

Kyou nodded "It was because she thought I was taking advantage of you remember? When myself and another girl took you home after you'd been knocked out"

"Wait a sec!" James thought as he felt a bulb in his head "Kyou and Tomoyo took me home?" Kyou's word's from their conversation yesterday came about into his subconscious

" _It was because I kissed a girl!_ "

"So does this mean that Tomoyo is bisexual too?" James's thought amazed "Damn who knew!"

"We knocked on your door" Kyou continued "And understandably she was distraught by what had happened and I guess jumping to conclusions she thought I was responsible"

"I see" James nodded still horrified by what his mother had done but still amazed with what had transpired between Kyou and Tomoyo.

"And that's when _it_ happened right?" James continued.

"huh?"

"You were with Tomoyo Sakagami weren't you?

Kyou's eye's widened her face blushed and her chest began to pound as she put her arms around it "Y-yes" she replied sounding as if she were struggling to breath.

"I think I know what happened" James grasped his hand on Kyou's shoulder as he explained his suspicions "You were upset you were confused your emotions were all over the place. Perhaps Tomoyo said something to you that was comforting and you decided to do what _you_ felt was right at that time!"

"Y-you're right" Kyou gulped as she looked around making sure no one could see them like this "I wasn't in the right state of mind and I just kissed her. T-that's why I need to think things through because I don't know if I even am bisexual or if it was just a heat of the moment thing!"

Glancing over at a back alley she pointed at it to James "Do you wanna talk over there for a few moments?"

"Uh...sure?" he replied feeling a little confused.

They walked into the back alley. It was a disgusting place the ground was all mushy wet bin's were lined up that were in desperate need of emptying a mouse crawled in and out of sight and the whole place smelt dreadful.

Pushing James against the wall she put her arm's around him hugging him tightly and burying her head into his chest.

 _Now_ James understood why she wanted them to go into this alley. Had she done this back in the street where everyone could see people might begin to suspect that perhaps _something_ was going on between them just like what had occurred between him and Ryou.

Kyou cried silently as James stroked the back of her head trying to keep her calm "Like I said yesterday-" he whispered in a comforting tone of voice "Just come to me if you need any help and advice. I'm here for you"

Kyou looked up at James and smiled with a slight blush "Thanks James" she replied in a faint tone of voice "Not to change the subject but-" her eye's darted away from James's direction for a few seconds before returning "You said that no girl at school or anywhere would have any interest in you romantically"

"Right?" James nodded not entirely sure where she was going with this.

"Well if...if there's a girl that admitted that she liked you and that she had a crush on you would you think about dating her?"

James blushed slightly whilst a feeling of great anxiety filled his chest "I...don't know" he replied in a strangled tone of voice "It depends on how long I would have know the individual and if I felt the same and whether or not I would be able to return those feelings" He gave a faint sigh feeling hot around the collar "I'd need to think about such a thing. If I immediately started dating a girl I could begin to have second thoughts and it could lead to major problems within our friendship"

James turned his direction towards the street as he watched student's walk past "Kyou why are you asking me this?"

Kyou let got of James and patted his head "Oh I was just curious" she chuckled "Anyway we'd better head off to school" she glanced at the exit cautiously "Just wait a few minutes after I've gone cause if people see us together like this they might get the wrong impression"

"Sure sure" James nodded. As Kyou left giving him a smile and a thumbs up he watched her walk into the street feeling a sence of deja-vu with this situation and what had occurred at his last school with the girl who had made him an emotional wreck.

After two minutes he left the alleyway and headed off towards the school feeling a dread of anxiety over what would transpire once James and Kyou's mothers met.

...

He arrived at the classroom with minutes to spare whilst unknowingly leaving a trail of muddy footsteps behind.

James walked over to Okazaki sitting in his chair eyes closed and deep in thought.

"Hey" James called out quietly as Okazaki immediately opened his eye's noticing him "Hey man"

James explained to Okazaki that he would unlikely be joining him or Nagisa at the drama club room during break in order to look for a spare room to carve the starfish and while Okazaki did tell him that he could just use the drama club but James felt that the room in question would be difficult to concentrate in with all the noise from the three of them especially Fuko.

...

After the bell had chimed all across the room he left the classroom to head off to the library in search of Kotomi so that she could help him with all the carving.

...

He entered the library as the sound of the door creaked faintly echoing throughout the room and glaced around to make sure no one was inside so that he wasn't disturbing anyone. Giving a faint sigh and straightening his flat-cap he walked over to Kotomi's usual spot where unsurprisingly she was sat on the floor heavily engrossed in a text book.

"Kotomi-Chan!" James whispered as Kotomi appeared to come back to reality closing her book and looking up at James smiling.

"H-hi James!" She stuttered nervously clearing her throat and playing about with her collar as if she were feeling hot.

"Ready?" James asked gesturing his hand towards her to help her up.

"As long as I'm with you" She blushed a light red grasping his hand and standing beside him.

After helping Kotomi pack away all her things they prepared to search for a room to do the carving.

...

They spent several long minutes attempting to find a room but they were all already occupied.

"Ok-" James sighed removing his flat-cap and scratching his head "We'll try one more room and if that doesn't work out screw it we'll just use the drama club room instead!"

Kotomi nodded in agreement without a word.

After another several minutes of searching they found a door that was just slightly opened. Grasping the handle James pushed it forward and peered inside.

The room was white with two large tables spread out on both sides of the room and a big window covered one side of the wall looking out onto the grounds. The room looked as if it hadnt been used in a while as dust was heavy upon the tables but on one of them was a small patch with no dust as if it had been recently used. Another door stood at the end of the room with a sign saying that it lead to the toilets.

"I think this is the old art room" Kotomi guessed as James examined the room "Maybe...if it is It look's kinda similar to the one I had at my last school weirdly enough!"

They sat down on two of the dusty chair's and James rummaged through his bag bringing out the thin plastic bag containing blocks of wood that Fuko had given him the previous night.

"Ok!" James exclaimed clapping his hand's together "We cant begin at the moment for two reasons: 1: Because Fuko doesn't know we're here and 2: Because we'll need carving knives.

Kotomi gave a faint gasp of worry as her eye's widened "Knives?"

"Well yeah-" James raised an eyebrow "How did you think we were gonna make these stars?"

Kotomi remained silent playing with her fingers nervously.

James chuckled patting Kotomi on the head making her blush "It'll be ok Kotomi Fuko will show us how to make them!"

Kotomi covered her mouth trying not to laugh. Putting her hand on her chest she gave a deep breath to calm herself.

"So you're sure that you can do this?" he asked concerned moving his hand off of her head and grasping both his hands together with her's.

"Yes" Kotomi nodded as her voice once again became fainter and more nervous "I just need to learn how to do it"

Glancing down towards their hand's she noticed James's bandaged one.

"What happened to your hand?!" she exclaimed grabbing it and examining it as James gave a faint sound of being in pain.

He explained what had happened when attempting to carve the star as Kotomi's eye's widened with worry again and she began to lightly rub his injured hand.

"R-really Kotomi I'm...I'm fine!" he tried to assure her.

They suddenly began to realized that their faces were slowly coming closer to each other. Blushing red they closed their eyes and tilted their heads slightly their lips coming closer to each other.

" _ **FUKO HAS ARRIVED!**_ "

Before their lips could touch they frantically opened their eye's breaking away from each other gasping nervously with their hearts pounding like crazy.

"F-fuko!" James gasped clutching his chest breathing loudly "How the hell did you know that we were here?"

Fuko gave a look of pride as she point to her nose "Fuko has a strong sence of smell!"

"What are you a dog?" he mumbled with a raised eyebrow. He turned his direction towards Kotomi her face was now a darkish red and she was playing around with her collar again.

"You ok Kotomi?" he asked worriedly grasping her shoulder.

"Y-yeah" she replied in a strangled tone of voice "Just a little shaken up"

"Yeah" he unconvincingly faked a laugh "Fuko's sudden appearance was a little over dramatic!"

"Enough chit-chat!" Fuko exclaimed banging her hand onto the table "Fuko will show the smarty girl how to carve the starfish!"

"You can call me Kotomi-chan" She spoke up.

Fuko gave a silent nod "Very well then Fuko will show Kotomi-chan how to carve the starfish!"

James glanced over at the clock on the wall.

"Sorry Fuko but we've only got ten minutes at the most and it'll take half of that time to get back to class.

Fuko gave a sigh of defeat.

"But the important thing is-" James continued "that we have established a room to use so how about during lunch you meet us in here and we begin the work then?"

"Ok!" Fuko smiled giving them a thumbs up.

"I agree too" Kotomi added "That would seem like the most logical thing to do"

"And there you go again Mr Spock!" James laughed.

 _ **To be continued.**_

 _ **Authors Note: Well I'm suprised with how quickly I wrote up this chapter and I honestly feel like it's one of the best so far but what do you people think?**_

 _ **It's kinda weird to think that this day next month will mark a year since I started writing this story!**_

 _ **Boy does time fly...**_


	26. Chapter 25: A rival appears

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 25: A rival appears.**_

While all the students cluttered the corridor's in hopes of buying a lunch James Walker was heading to the old art room. When he'd returned to class earlier he'd informed Okazaki that he now had a room to work with and that hopefully more starfish carvings would be made to give around the school.

It took longer than he had hoped to reach the old art room with all the crowds of students almost knocking him onto the floor and trampling on him on more than one occasion. It was only lunch time but too James he felt like he was a soldier in a war zone desperately trying to escape the enemy But he soon reached the art room completely exhausted as sweat ran down his forehead.

Opening the door he stepped inside to find Kotomi waiting for him at the table. Upon noticing James a smile instantly appeared on her face "Hi James!" she stood up bowing her head.

"Hey Kotomi!" he replied wiping the sweat off of his forehead and attempting to cool himself down using his flat-cap as a fan.

"You don't have to bow your head by the way!" he chuckled whilst taking a deep breath "A simple hello will do if that's fine with you"

"Yeah...sure!" Kotomi brought herself back up as her face blushed from embarrassment feeling slightly foolish.

He walked over to the table rummaging through his bag proceeding to bring out the thin plastic bag full of blocks of wood.

"Well!-" he sighed "I guess we'd best get started!" He searched his pockets proceeding to bring out two small carving knives "Got these from Fuko after the bell rang" he assured her.

"W-well-" Kotomi cleared her throat "Since we have more time how about we have lunch?"

James gave an exaggerated laugh "Well you can but I'm not going out there with those savages!"

Kotomi frowned at James giving him a horrible chill up his spine "I know it can be a little bit scary dealing with crowds James but those people aren't savages!"

"Oh if only she knew the imbeciles from my last school!" he thought.

"Anyway-" Kotomi continued rummaging through her bag "I brought my own lunch like I always do and-" Her eye's glaced away from James as her face blushed a light red "-and I thought you might like to share it with me?"

"Yeah sure!" James smiled "I-I-I'd love to-"

" _ **FUKO HAS ARRIVED!**_ "

"How the hell does she do that?!" James pondered clutching his chest gasping from shock.

"H-hello Fuko!" Kotomi stuttered also feeling shaken up.

"Hello to both of you!" she bowed her head with a serious tone of voice "Now we must begin carving!"

"But Fuko cant we eat lunch first?" Kotomi asked.

"No time!" Fuko exclaimed jumping up and down "I need enough starfish in time for my big sister's wedding!"

"Ok calm down!" James rolled his eyes in annoyance and sheer disbelief that Fuko was actually the same age as him "Good Jesus!"

...

Fuko carefully showed Kotomi how to carve and gave her a knife to attempt to carve a star herself. While nervous at first Kotomi soon got the hang of carving and was soon onto making a second one.

"See it's easy once you get the hang of it!" James laughed nervously while unsuccessfully trying to carve a star himself.

The door suddenly creaked opened. The three of them turned their heads to see a girl enter the room.

Judging by the blue badge on her chest she was a senior like them. She had long pink hair with a single dyed purple streak on her forehead. She wore glasses that shined brightly showcasing a pair of brown eye's.

"Sekai!" Kotomi gasped suddenly grabbing James's arm and clinging onto it for dear life.

The girl turned her head into the direction of the three. "Oh-" she murmured biting her lower lip "didn't realize this room had become occupied by others"

"S-sorry" James stood up offering a handshake "We assumed that this room was unoccupied and we needed one to work in and this was or at least we thought it was the only room in the school that wasn't in use"

She glaced at James's hand before shaking it in response whilst giving a sound of disgust.

"What work are you people do-" she gave a faint gasp upon noticing Kotomi.

"Ichinose-" she scoffed "What are you doing here?"

"H-hi Sekai" she mumbled glancing at the ground playing with her fingers "I-I-I-I'm just helping James and Fuko with carving out these little stars" she grabbed one from the table and passed it over to the girl she proceeded to take it and examined it giving a faint " _hmmm_ " sound as she tilted her glasses before passing it to James.

"So this is what your use the room for huh?" she frowned at them before slapping her hand onto her face "Argh why cant this school have any _proper_ artists?!"

"Hold on!-" James's eyes suddenly widened "You're an artist?"

The girl smirked giving a faint chuckle "Let me introduce myself!" she cleared her throat adjusted her glasses and placed her hand onto her chest "I am Sekai Tsugumi of Class-A and I'm proud to say the schools only _proper_ artist!"

"Well at your age Sekai your an amature artist-" Sekai suddenly gave James a glance that looked as if she wanted to drink his blood just for calling her an amature artist "No offence meant of course!" he continued nervously "but you cant really consider yourself a proper artist until you have published work and are known for what you do!"

"Oh please!" Sekai snorted

"Look I'm an amature artist too so I know about things like that!"

Sekai gave a faint gasp glancing at James eyeing him up "Pah!" she scoffed again "I bet you're not that talented!"

"He is!" Kotomi spoke up trying to defend James.

"Be quiet you!" Sekai shouted over to Kotomi.

"Dont talk to her like that!" James shouted

"And why not?" she asked proceeding to bite her lower lip again.

"Kotomi's a sweet girl!" James exclaimed trying his best to defend his friend as Kotomi blushed a dark red as she listened to his words "She's kind and sweet and polite-"

"Yeah yeah yeah!" Sekai scoffed rolling her eyes "If you want my opinion all she is is an _antisocial bitch_!"

Kotomi began to feel her eye's tear up trying not to cry.

"She never comes to class preferring to stay in that damn library all day because she thinks she's _too smart_ for the rest of us!"

"Right shut up just shut up!" James shouted while trying to keep himself calm while Sekai grumbled to herself with a frown "Pah! You're just like any other guy!" she exclaimed "Talking to people like trash-"

" _I'm_ talking to people like trash?!" James shouted "My god you're one to talk you hypocrite!"

"I bet the only reason you even draw is so that you can just doodle naked women! or-or men!" Sekai added.

James blushed from embarrassment "I-I do not!" he choked nervously clearing his throat.

" _ **ENGOUTH!**_ "

Fuko shouted making the pair of them jump back in shock.

"Time must not be wasted!" Fuko exclaimed "We must carve more starfish!"

"Starfish?" Sekai mumbled.

"It's complicated" he assured her.

Without a word the three of them went back to carving while Sekai watched with interest. After seeing them make a dozen stars she walked over to the table.

"Ok let me have a go!" she grumbled tilting her glasses and grabbing a carving knife.

"Go ahead!" James scoffed "No one is stopping you and I'm sure that the schools-" he cleared his throat before talking in a sarcastic tone " _greatest artist_ can easily carve a block of wood into a star shape!"

Without muttering a word she grabbed a block of wood and started to carve. Sekai struggled greatly and almost sliced her finger off at one point and soon gave up slamming the block of wood onto the table as James covered his mouth with his sleeve to cover his laughter.

"Aww shut up!" Sekai grumbled as her face blushed with embarrassment.

...

Ten minutes before the bell rang they decided to pack everything away.

"You did really well" James spoke up to Kotomi in a soft tone of voice grasping her shoulder making her blush.

"N-no really you're too kind!" Kotomi stuttered trying to cover her blushing face "I'm not that good!"

"But you are!" he laughed patting her on the head "Keep this up and you'll almost be as good as Fuko!"

While they were packing away Fuko picked up a carving and walked over to Sekai who sat on her own at the other table playing with her fingers and chewing a bit of her hair.

"Sekai-" Fuko called to her tugging lightly at her sleeve.

Sekai turned her head to look at Fuko as she tilted her glasses giving a frown "What do you want?"

She passed the starfish carving to Sekai who proceeded to respond with a raised eyebrow.

"Sekai" Fuko cleared her throat "Please will you accept this starfish as an invitation to my big sister's wedding?"

Sekai grasped the star straightening her glasses giving a faint gasp "I-I-" she bit her lower lip as she thought about what to say "I would but...I'm sorry but I don't enjoy weddings"

Fuko's facial expression turned to a look of disappointment.

"And they're a waste of time anyway!" she continued on with her voice sounding like she was trying not to be _too_ insulting "Your sister and her boyfriend. Their relationship won't change it will be exactly the same!"

"What a horrid thing to say!" James thought despite somewhat agreeing with what Sekai had said.

"I'm sorry" Sekai passed the star carving back to Fuko as she proceeded to leave the room silently.

"Kotomi-" James whispered pointing his hand to the door "Just follow Fuko and make sure she's ok"

Giving a silent nod Kotomi left the room in pursuit of Fuko leaving James and Sekai alone.

"What is your damn problem Sekai?" James shouted walking over to her.

She gave a loud sigh not bothering to look at him "What's your name?"

"I'm James Walker of Class 3-D!"

Sekai suddenly grabbed James by the collar violently pushing him onto the table.

"Then listen to me James Walker!" she exclaimed spitting in his face as he struggled to remove himself from her grasp "There's only room for one great artist in this school and that's me! You're nothing but a complete and utter amature where as I am a superior!"

She released James as he straightened himself up rubbing his throat.

"So I hope you know where you stand in comparison to me!" she scoffed as she stormed out of the classroom leaving James alone.

 _ **To be continued**_

 _ **Authors Note: So what do you people think of Sekai? Obviously she's an OC and not a character that was actually in Clannad at all but do you think she's too much of a unlikable character should I change much about her? She will appearing again in the story so please dont think that she's just this random OC that's there for like a few chapters and is then just gone later on.**_


	27. Chapter 26: Preparing

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 26: Preparing for the founders festival.**_

"What is that girls damn problem?!" James grunted entering the classroom still thinking about Sekai Tsugumi an egotistical girl who referred to herself as the school's one and only proper artist.

Pulling out his chair and sitting down he put his arm's around the top of the table and buried his head into the middle.

"Who does she think she is calling me a complete and utter amature and referring to herself as superior talk about a damn ego!" he thought while twiddling with his fingers "Not to mention the stuff she said about poor Kotomi and Fuko!"

He straightened himself giving a loud sigh as he looked out of the window observing the fluffy clouds passing by "I dont know know maybe its her _time of the month_ or something but if she continues on like this I'm going to have a _word_ with her I'll tell ya!"

He felt a faint tap on his shoulder and turned around to see Okazaki "Oh hey!" James gasped feeling slightly spooked after being deep in thought for the past few minuets.

"Just a head's up-" Okazaki began to explain "We're discussing the founders festival in the drama club room after the next bell rings"

"Right I'll be there!" James nodded giving a thumbs up.

"I wonder what the founders festival actually is about anyway..."

...

Once the bell had rung Okazaki James Nagisa and Fuko all met up in the drama-club room and after spending the first few minutes explaining to James what the founders festival was all about they finally got down to business.

"I want the two of them to meet face to face!" Okazaki explained to James and Nagisa while Fuko was carving but still listening to the conversation.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Nagisa asked worriedly turning her head over to Fuko.

"Yeah it sounds a little risky" James signalled for them to come closer to him so that Fuko couldn't hear "If they do meet how the hell are we gonna explain the situation and the fact that her sister is suppose to be in a hospital right now?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it" Okazaki assured them "But are _you_ with us on this James?"

He put his hand on his chin giving a faint _hmmm_ sound as he thought it through.

"Sure" James nodded "I'll help you guy's out with Fuko meeting this Miss Ibuki or whatever her name is"

"I just hope nothing bad comes out of this" he thought worriedly.

...

Later James walked down the corridor heading for the library to find Kotomi hoping to be able to walk home with her and much to his surprise they both ran into each other halfway giving each other a gasp of surprise.

"Hey!" they both greeted each other nervously.

"I-I um-" James stuttered removing his flat-cap and scratching his head furiously "I was just on my way to find you!"

Kotomi responded with a slight chuckle blushing "I was just looking for you too!"

They both laughed out loud while trying to keep it quiet as to not echo across the corridor too loudly.

"So do you wanna walk home together?" they asked each other at the same time which was followed by another bout of laughter.

...

They held hand's together as they proceeded to leave the school. Their heart's raced violently as they walked and neither spoke again until they reached the bottom of the hill where the cherry tree's resided.

"The cherry tree's sure are beautiful!" Kotomi remarked

"Yeah!" James chuckled "But not as beautiful as you"

They both blushed a very dark shade of red with James feeling more embarrassed than anything.

"T-thanks!" Kotomi stuttered in a choked voice "D-do you think that-"

"What?" James asked nervously.

"Well do you think that we could find another room to carve the stars in?"

"I don't know-" James pondered scratching his head "It took us ages to find that room and it was or at least it seemed that it was the only one not in use-" he turned his head looking at her "Are you asking because of what Sekai said?"

Kotomi nodded whimpering under her breath "She always finds a way to hurt me" she began to explain "I'm not obligated to come to class but I can come to them if I want but whenever I do Sekai and her friends always take the opportunity to bully me. They call me names and-"

She felt James wrapped his arms around her chest as he tried to comfort her "It's ok" he whispered in a sympathetic tone "I understand"

"T-thank you so much James!" she sniffled trying not to cry "You really are a good friend and I know we've not know each other that long but to me you're my best friend!"

"T-thanks!" James blushed as he felt his chest tighten up painfully as his heart pumped violently "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure" she replied as James broke off the hug and turned her around to look at him.

"I think that because you don't attend classes that much-" he began to explain "-people have gotten the wrong perception of you"

Kotomi nodded silently in agreement "It's not just Sekai and her friends. _Everyone_ in that classroom thinks I'm antisocial"

"And we need to change that!" he assured her "Kotomi can you try to attend class tomorrow? Instead of going to the library go to your classroom and take part in the day's lessons and if Sekai or anyone else bullies you just report them to the staff and they'll sort it out!"

She thought about it for a few moments glancing at the ground nervously "I-I-I need to think about it!" she replied not looking up in his direction. "I think I'll go home alone for now James"

"Oh-" James mumbled "Well ok then but be careful!"

"I will" she replied in a depressed tone of voice.

...

James walked halfway up the stairs to his flat and throughout his long walk from the school to here he'd had Kotomi on his mind and hoped that she would attend at least _one_ class but knew it would be difficult. She was a shy and fragile girl and he knew from his own experience that people like her could break down easily at any given moment.

Brushing himself off he unlocked the door to his area of the flat and stepped inside.

"Mum I'm home!" he shouted as his voice echoed throughout.

"Mum?" he called out again after no response. He checked everywhere and his mother was nowhere to be found.

"She must still be at the hospital" he shrugged worriedly.

 _ **To be Continued.**_


	28. Chapter 27: A friends return

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 27: A friend's return.**_

James sat on the sofa in his front room. The time was now 8:00PM and his mother still hadnt returned much too his worry. He'd thought that perhaps there was something seriously wrong with her to the point that she'd had to be quarantined at the hospital or on the way back home she'd been mugged raped or killed.

To calm himself down he'd sat himself down and set up his VHS-Player to watch some Doctor Who episodes.

"Aww I'd love to cosplay as these Cybermen" he grinned whilst glancing at the clock on the wall nervously.

" _Controller-_ " A robotic voice on the TV screen exclaimed in an unemotional tone " _The technicians at The Doctor's Tardis do not respond to our call!_ "

" _That is not possible!_ " The Cyber-Controller cried out.

" _Instruments also indicate "time disturbance"_ "

" _The Tardis has been moved!_ "

As dramatic music began to play there was suddenly a knock on the door and James hurriedly paused the tape jumped off of the sofa and hurried to the door accidentally crashing into it like something out of a Loony Tunes cartoon.

Rubbing his forehead he hurriedly picked up the keys to the flat and unlocked the door when he opened it however he saw that it wasn't his mother at all but instead the Fujibayashi twins and someone standing behind them.

He tried his best not to burst into a smile at the sight of Ryou but she gave him a silent wave mouthing the word "hi" to him.

"Um-" he quickly slammed his fist onto his chest in order to clear his throat "Y-yes w-what can I do for you?"

"Ah so you must be James!" a female voice exclaimed from behind the twins.

"Yes that's him mum!" Kyou replied turning her head in her direction.

"Um would you like to come in?" he asked nervously.

Without a reply the three of them stepped inside the flat and the twin's mother looked around the room.

"Is your mother home James?" she asked looking at the walls.

"N-no ma'am she's at the hospital at the moment and hasn't come back yet"

"I see" she sighed "Well if you don't mind James I'm going to wait here all night if I have too!" she exclaimed before muttering the words "The nerve of that woman!"

"I-I-I-" he stuttered clearing his throat "I take it your Kyou and Ryou's mother?"

She turned around to James smiling "Oh I'm sorry I've not introduced myself yes you are right I am Kyou and Ryou's mother I'm Chiyo Fujibayashi!" she gestured her hand towards him which he shook.

"Well um nice to meet you miss Fujibayashi!" he bowed his head nervously "I'm just sorry that it couldn't be under better circumstances"

Chiyo nodded her head in agreement "Yes well your mother seriously crossed a line and she's lucky that I didn't call the police on her!"

James made a slight choking sound as he imagined what might have occurred had she called the police "I assure you I didn't see-"

"Oh don't worry James!" she assured him "I know from what Kyou's told me that you were unconscious when it happened and from what the girls have told me about you you seem like a nice enough lad!"

Both of the twins blushed nervously hoping that James wouldn't ask what exactly they had told her.

"W-would you like something to drink any of you?" he asked sensing the nervousness "Tea or perhaps a coffee?"

"James" Kyou interrupted before anyone else could reply "Do you know when your mother will be back?"

James merely shook his head "No I don't"

"What does it matter Kyou?" Chiyo scoffed "Like I said I'll wait for her until she get's back!"

"Well I was thinking" she explained pushing Ryou nearing to James and then the two of them to the door "We can watch the flat and wait for James's mum while James and Ryou can go for a little walk to catch up with each other!"

James and Ryou blushed nervously as Kyou grabbed the doorknob.

"Hmmm" Chiyo thought "Well I suppose" she mumbled "Just make sure she doesn't get hurt James!"

"Of course mahm!" he replied as Kyou opened the door and hurriedly forced them outside.

Shutting the door she turned to James smiling "Well that's settled then!" she chuckled "James keep hold of Ryou as you walk down the stairs. She's still feeling a little light headed"

"Wha-" Ryou spoke up before Kyou put her hand over her mouth signalling her to be quiet.

"Really it is dangerous for her to walk up and down stairs alone!" she chuckled nervously "Just put your arm around her as you walk"

Blushing slightly James cleared his throat "Um ok" he mumbled walking over to Ryou putting his arm around her shoulder making the pair of them blush violently.

"R-really-" Ryou spoke up in a slightly high pitched tone of voice "You don't have to-"

"No if your sister says I have to hold onto you them I have to" he assured her "safety first and besides both your mum and sister would kill me if I let anything happen to you!"

"Well have fun you two!" she smiled patting James on the head and proceeding to open the door to go back inside.

"Can you take the VHS tape out?" he asked as Kyou shut the door "Well if that tape get's wiped it'll be hell to find a replacement!"

Inside Kyou stood at the door with her hand on her chest breathing lightly "I know you don't want me to help you little sister" she said to herself in her head "But you at least need a head start!"

...

They walked down to the end of the flat without a word with James concentrating more on making sure Ryou was safe despite her assuring him over and over again that she was perfectly fine.

As James let her go they both looked at each other their blushing faces shadowed by the darkness.

"S-so" Ryou spoke up rubbing her arm nervously "How have you-"

Without a word of warning James wrapped his arms around Ryou hugging her tightly.

"J-james!" she gasped "You're crushing me!"

"Oh crap sorry!" he quickly let her go as she took a few deep breaths and put her hand on her chest.

"S-sorry Ryou it's-" he felt his face slowly becoming red hot as if it was burning fire "It's just I've been so worried about you! When-" his eyes began to sparkle as a few tears ran down his face "When Kyou told me about what had happened I thought you might have died or something!"

Ryou gently grasped James's hand and rubbed it gently "To tell you the truth I honestly thought that I was going to die-" her voice began to sound choked up as she held back tears "It was horrible I couldn't breath and then everything started spinning and-and-"

"It's ok" he whispered proceeding to hug her gently and rubbing her head "Everything's fine now. You're alive and that's all that matters"

"Yeah" she mumbled "I don't know why sis tried to do what she did but-" she suddenly stopped herself as if to think for a moment "James do you know what actually happened?"

"yes" he replied "she explained everything but I think she'll need to tell you it's really not my place to say"

"I guess you're right" she replied hugging James tighter "I'm just glad that I could at least see you again"

Releasing each other from the hug they looked away from each other both feeling incredibly nervous.

"Do you um-" James mumbled biting his tongue "want to walk around the park for a bit?"

"Sure!" she smiled.

...

They walked hand in hand to the park and gazed up at the night sky.

"The moon sure is bright tonight" James gasped in awe.

"It looks beautiful" Ryou chuckled.

They looked at it for what felt like hours until Ryou grabbed James's arm clinging onto it.

"So when-" she blushed nervously as James glaced at her "So when sis um...k-kissed you the other-"

"For the record-" he spoke up interrupting her "It wasn't a romantic kiss. She's going through a complex stage in her emotions and she did what she felt was right"

"I know" Ryou continued nervously "S-she's told me although she wouldn't say what caused it but what I'm asking is-" her face started to become a violent shade of red as her grip on James's arm increased "Was that your _first_ kiss with a girl?"

James choked slightly looking away from Ryou as he tried to think of an appropriate response "W-well I-i-i-I guess yeah"

Ryou gave what sounded to James like a sign of disappointment. "I-" Ryou mumbled "I was thinking once we both have some free time would you like to go and see a movie?"

"Oh" James gasped surprised "Well sure thing I guess yeah and if you want I'll pay for you and your sister it's really the least I can do for-"

"No-" Ryou interrupted "When I asked if you wanted to go and see a movie I-i was talking about _just the two of us_ " she mumbled as her face once again turned a violent red

"Oh it's you again miss Fujibayashi!" a voice called out.

The two of them turned their heads looking into the direction where the voice had called out. Quickly coming into view was Kappei Hiiragi whom Ryou had met on the day of her panic attack and James had met a couple times but did not know by name.

"Oh!" Ryou gasped surprised moving away from James franticly "It's you um- Kappei wasn't it?"

Kappei nodded with a smile "Yes it's me-" he turned his head looking at James "You again!" he chuckled surprised.

"You know each other?" Ryou asked feeling even more surprised.

"Well-" James began to explain "I don't know him by name but we've talked a couple times in the street"

"Yeah he helped me recover my resume!" Kappei laughed.

"I still have that handkerchief of yours too!" James reminded "It's up at the flat if you want it"

"Oh" he murmured "I thought I'd lost it"

"Well it's been cleaned and washed" James assured him "So it'll save you from having to clean it yourself.

"S-so how did your job interview at Moth Burger go?" Ryou asked and Kappei responded with a disappointed sigh "Still no luck" he shook his head.

"Aww I'm so sorry!" Ryou replied as James rolled his eyes "Well job's are hard to find these days um what was your name again?"

"Kappei Hiiragi" he replied as James offered a handshake "Well I'm James Walker!" he laughed "Nice to finally know your name!"

"Yeah" Kappei laughed "So what are you two up too at this time of night?"

"We were just going for a walk!" Ryou exclaimed as her face blushed.

"Really?" Kappei raised an eyebrow "It didn't look like you were walking before I interrupted you just know it looked more like-"

"W-whatever!" Ryou interrupted as smoke began to come from her ears.

"Damn she's really getting worked up!" James thought.

"S-sorry!" Kappei apologized as Ryou became more and more flustered.

 _Bzzzzz_

Ryou's phone began to ring and she quickly searched through her pocket to pick it up "It's sis calling!" she exclaimed. Pressing the button the answer the phone she put the phone on speaker.

"Y-yeah sis?" she stuttered

" _Ryou hurry back!_ " she shouted through the speaker " _James's mums back and I think a fight's about to break out I'm trying to keep them calm but I'm gonna need some help!_ "

James and Ryou gave a loud gasp looking at each.

" _You and James had better hurry!_ "

Franticly ending the call Ryou grabbed James's hand and hurriedly dragged him along with her.

"If you can please return the handkerchief tomorrow!" Kappei shouted to them as they moved further and further away into the distance.

"Sure thing!" James shouted "Meet me by the school tomorrow morning!"

...

James and Ryou reached his area of the flat and stopped to catch their breath as they wheezed loudly from exhaustion.

"Y-you-"James wheezed loudly thumping his chest "Y-you shouldn't have run like that Ryou!" he thumped his chest again "It's not good for someone in your condition!"

"I'll be f-f-fine!" she wheezed thumping at her chest.

They quickly grabbed the doorknob and burst inside already they could hear shouting and bits of crockery being smashed. As they ran into the front room Victoria and Chiyo were on the floor clawing at each other pulling each others hair and attempting to bite each others fingers off.

"Jesus christ!" James exclaimed upon seeing the carnage that was occurring as Ryou watched unsure of what to do in the situation.

"Help me separate them you idiots!" Kyou shouted over to them.

It was a struggle but they were able to separate the two mothers from fighting leaving everyone with cut's and bruises and Victoria and Chiyo in particular with black eye's.

"Mother how could you?" Ryou exclaimed as she helped Kyou and Chiyo out of the door "You're suppose to be the adult here!"

"Aye well you haven't seen the last of me Victoria I'll tell ya that!" she exclaimed "There will be damn hell to pay!"

Kyou slammed the door shut leaving James and Victoria alone.

"No offence mum but you did kind of deserve that" he scolded "I know you thought Kyou was taking advantage of me but _strangling her_ was way overboard!"

"Well I did try to explain the situation!" Victoria stood up brushing herself off "But that damn woman wouldn't listen!"

"Ugh" James sighed running his hand down his head "I think we need to get you two to talk in a more controlled environment at some point in the future and don't worry I'll clean up all this mess!"

"I guess you're right James" she gave a loud yawn feeling completely exhausted "I'm too tired from my trip to the hospital to sort it out right now"

"Oh by the way!" he exclaimed putting his hand onto his mother's shoulder as she made her way to the bedroom "What was the hospital appointment about?"

"I'll tell you some other time James" she yawned as she opened her bedroom door stepped inside and slammed it shut leaving James to clear up the mess from the fight.

 _ **To be continued**_


	29. Chapter 28: Kotomi's Ordeal

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 28: Kotomi's Ordeal.**_

James left the flat feeling completely exhausted. He'd spent an hour and a half cleaning the front room during the night after the fight between his mother Victoria and the Twin's mother Chiyo Fujibayashi.

No one was entirely sure what had started the fight. Even Kyou who had watched over the two mothers wasn't entirely sure what started it and everyone hoped that the two mothers could meet again and hopefully get along but their reasons for not liking each other were understandable to a point.

Surprisingly Chiyo held no disliking towards James and hoped to see him again at some point.

At least that's what the twin's had told him over the phone whilst he was cleaning up.

He'd gone to bed feeling extremely tired but had failed to get a decent rest with all the heat making him uncomfortable to the point that he'd felt ill and wanted to vomit but somehow he'd slept albeit for a couple hours before waking up early in the morning having a shower getting changed and dressed and watched some more Doctor Who episodes until the time came that he would have to leave the flat and make his way to the school.

...

"Hey James!" Kappei shouted over to him as he walked nearer to the hill side.

"Oh hey Kappei" he greeted with a loud yawn struggling to keep his eye's open and focused.

"Hmmm-" Kappei murmured "You don't look too good" he mumbled worriedly.

"Yeah!" he scoffed "And I really don't wanna discuss it sorry!" rustling through his pocket's he hurriedly passed Kappei the handkerchief.

"There!" he exclaimed tiredly whilst hurrying to the walkway that lead to the school.

"S-See you later then!" Kappei mumbled feeling rather dumbfounded "I guess..."

"Oh hi Kappei!" a familiar voice called out to him.

Turning around and trying to see through the crowd of students he noticed the Fujibayashi twins walking towards him.

"Oh hi Ryou!" he greeted smiling.

...

James walked up the hill through the cherry blossom tree's and every step was a struggle.

He felt as if his legs were filled with lead he desperately tried to keep his eye's open and his body felt worn out as if to say " _let me sleep! let me sleep!_ "

"I must go on!" he said to himself determined to make it to the top but the bright pink colours of the cherry blossoms and the crowds of students that he was trying desperately to avoid felt disorientating.

...

"James!" a voice cried out.

"Oh for god's sake what is it now?!" he grumbled after having reached the school. Turning around he saw Kotomi standing behind him.

"Oh it-it's you" he yawned rubbing his eye's.

"Who else were you expecting?" she asked curiously.

"Ugh never mind" he mumbled pulling at his fringe. "Anyway did you decide what your going to do regarding your classmates?

Glancing at the ground nervously she nodded "Yes! I gave it a lot of thought James and you're right I need to change what people think of me! I-I-" she sniffled desperately trying not to cry "I'll be a brave girl!"

Without a word of warning James kissed Kotomi on the forehead making her blush heavily "That right you need to be brave Kotomi!" he grasped her hand's tightly "Show _any_ sign of weakness and those savages are going to tear you apart like the weak pathetic thing that they think you are!"

"T-thanks James!" she smiled whilst not being entirely sure if that last part about being weak and pathetic was what he thought of her as a person or if that was what her classmates thought of her.

"You really are a good friend!" she hugged him tightly for a few moments before heading to the school entrance.

"I'll see you later!" she shouted "I'll meet you in the art room at break!"

As James chuckled to himself and brushed himself off little did he know that Sekai had been near them drawing and had heard everything and hurried to her classroom to tell her friends of what had transpired.

...

Sekai stood up against a wall outside of Class-A talking to her friends _Hana Nagami_ and _Chiaki Mai_. Both were slightly taller than Sekai. Hana had long flowing brown hair and sparkling green eyes and Chiaki had medium length raven hair with sparkling yellow eyes. Both were relatively fit for girls their age and would often bring in the attention of their male classmates with their looks much to their annoyance.

So is this James guy like her boyfriend or something?" Hana asked with genuine curiosity.

"No idea!" Sekai shrugged "But they do seem close"

"Well-" Chiaki spoke up "You probably wouldn't know anyway Sekai"

"Look!-" Sekai exclaimed pointing her finger at Chiaki "Just because I've _never_ been in love doesn't mean I don't know when other people are!"

"Y-yeah!" she replied nervously "T-that's very true!"

"Hey you said that this James guy's an artist right? Hana exclaimed clicking her fingers loudly "How about we set you and him up?" she whispered in Sekai's ear gently massaging her shoulders "You'd probably make a great couple!"

"Ack!" Sekai choked blushing a violent shade of red her ears pouring with smoke her glasses fogging up "S-shut up!" she exclaimed "As if I'd date a complete amature loser like him!"

"O-oh ok!" the two girls chuckled slightly surprised by Sekai's sudden outburst.

"A-anyway!-" Sekai continued clearing her throat "Back to Ichinose!"

Hana and Chiaki both nodded giving a faint "mmhh "

"Since she's actually daring to come to class how about we make it a complete misery for her like before?" Sekai exclaimed "We'll do the usual stuff and if she keeps coming to lesson's we'll make her life a living hell!"

"Oh oh!" Hana cried out placing her arm in the air "If she pisses us off too much how about we drag her into the bathroom fill the sink up with water and dunk her head into it and then release her just before she drowns?"

Sekai took a faint step back feeling completely flabbergasted "T-that's a little-"

"Yeah that's going a bit far!" Chiaki shivered.

"Then how about we cut her hair so that she'll come to school with a really stupid style?" Hana suggested as all three girls laughed.

"S-shit she's coming!" Sekai whispered upon noticing Kotomi walking nearer to the classroom.

"Hope the bitch didn't hear us!" Hana thought anxiously biting her nails.

As Kotomi walked nearer to the door Sekai called out to her "Ichinose!" her voice echoing through the corridor.

A faint gasp could be heard from Kotomi as the pace of her walking increased. Before she could enter the classroom Sekai grabbed the back of her hair pulling her towards the three girls as she cried out in pain much to their amusement.

"S-sekai!" Kotomi cried out "Please stop it!"

When she was dragged close enough Sekai turned her around and pushed her against the wall.

"Well well well!" Sekai grinned "Little miss antisocial decided to actually show up for once!"

"I must be brave!" Kotomi thought trying not to burst into tears as all her emotions began to build up inside of her "I told James that I'd be a brave girl!"

"Just so you know-" Chiaki whispered to Kotomi grabbing her lightly by the chin "We're gonna make your life a living hell!"

Kotomi's eye's widened with horror as she began to feel Hana place her hand's onto her breasts and squeezing them hard "Aww your so damn lucky!" Hana cried out like a spoiled child whilst Sekai and Chiaki held onto Kotomi's arms as to not let her force her away. "I wish I had a pair like these!" she continued as she squeezed them with Kotomi whimpering waiting for _someone anyone_ to come and help her out of this situation but all of her classmates and other students just walked past grinning and laughing under their breath.

"James!" Kotomi cried out in her thoughts "Please help me!"

...

"Ugh I hope Kotomi's doing ok!" James yawned entering the classroom hunched over like Quasimodo. "She's a sweet girl I'm sure she'll do allright!"

As he pulled out his seat sat down buried his arms onto the table and dunking his head in preparing to get a few minute's worth of sleep he felt a hand tug his shoulder.

"Oh get lost for a few minutes Okazaki!" James groaned in a muffled voice.

"I-it's me" Ryou whispered as James brought up his head.

"Oh well get lost Ryou" he yawned not entirely realizing what he'd just said.

"Oh-" Ryou murmured feeling slightly hurt "Look I-I can tell you're tired but do you wanna hang out at break?"

"I'm busy at break" he grumbled tiredly.

"Oh w-well c-can I join you?"

"Ugh fine!" James groaned looking at Ryou feeling half asleep "J-just meet me in the old art room after break!"

"O-ok!" Ryou nodded shaking slightly as she walked back over to her seat.

"Poor guy" she thought glancing at him "Yesterday must have really tired him out."

 _Bzzzzzz_

James's phone vibrated inside of his pocket as he gave another tired groan searching for it.

"Ugh god what is it now?!"

He clicked the buttons and had a quick scan read of the text.

 _You have one message from Kyou_

He gave a glance at the text before turning back his head into his arms trying to attempt to sleep.

" _James!_ " the text read " _Who the hell is this Kappei guy? Where does he come from?_ "

 _ **DING DONG DANG DONG**_

"Oh for f**k's sake!" James groaned upon hearing the sound of the bell signalling the lesson to start.

...

After the bell had rung Kotomi hurriedly stood up brushed herself off and prepared to leave the classroom.

She'd spent the whole lesson feeling an immense pain of anxiety worrying about others opinion's of her and the fact that Sekai and her friends would soon pick on her at the earliest opportunity.

As she started to run she suddenly fell head first onto the floor followed by the laughter of Sekai and her friends.

"Oooh sorry Ichinose!" Sekai snorted "You should really watch where you're going!"

She knew that Sekai had _deliberately_ tripped her up and as she hurriedly grabbed her things that had fallen onto the floor she felt a kick to the stomach causing her to roll and collide with a chair hitting her head onto the thick metal with a loud clang.

"You know for a _so-called-genius_ you really should have seen that one coming!" Hana chuckled.

"Yeah you're pretty stupid for a so called genius!" Chiaki agreed.

Sekai suddenly grabbed Kotomi by the back on the head pulling her painfully up towards them.

"Argh!" Kotomi cried out "S-sekai p-please stop!"

Signalling to the the others with her hand Chiaki rummaged through her pockets proceeding to bring out a sharp pair of scissors.

"Now how about we give your hair a little trim?" Sekai whispered in her hair.

Without a word of warning Kotomi punched Sekai in the stomach. As she let go Kotomi proceeded to remove Sekai's glasses placing them onto a table not wanting to break them but before she could run away Chiaki had already grabbed her.

"You're not going anywhere!" she grinned.

"H-help!" Sekai exclaimed "Seriously I'm blind without my glasses!"

Before Chiaki could pass the glasses back Kotomi broke herself free and ran as fast as she could outside of the classroom.

"She's gone!" Hana cried out pointing at the door.

"Ah well it was fun while it lasted!" Sekai murmured adjusting her glasses.

"Cant we go after her?" Chiaki spoke up.

"Nah" Sekai shrugged as she began to walk over to the exit "We'll most likely have another chance later!"

The other two nodded without a word as Sekai left the classroom.

...

After what felt like an agonizingly long period of time James stood up from his seat brushed himself off and prepared to leave the classroom.

Before he could signal to Ryou to follow him she was already surrounded by curious students wanting to know why she'd been away from school and to do the usual fortune telling.

"I'll join you in the art room soon!" Ryou shouted to him through the crowd as James hurriedly made his way to the art room.

"Hopefully Kotomi's alright" he said to himself.

...

He carefully knocked on the door and crept it open with a slight creek echoing through the corridors.

"Kotomi-" James murmured "are you here?"

He began to hear a faint familiar crying sound and walked further inside the room. There sitting by the table was poor Kotomi crying her eye's out. Her hand's covered her face but tears poured down like a flowing river.

"Kotomi!" James shouted rushing over to her.

"What happened?!" he exclaimed grasping her shoulders "What's wrong?!"

Kotomi removed her hand's from her face immediately revealing that they were terribly bloodshot and watery "Oh James-!" she cried as she hurriedly stood up from the chair and hugged him tightly.

Rather _too_ tightly...

"Ugh!" James groaned as he felt his chest being crushed "K-kotomi!" he wheezed frantically tapping the table "I c-cant breath!"

"I-it was Sekai!" she whimpered while releasing her grip on James allowing him to take a few deep breaths "S-she and her friends-" the crying made worse as she continued to explain "T-they _touched_ me and kicked me around and threatened to cut my hair!"

"What?!" he gasped shocked "Is this what usually happens when you come to class?!"

Kotomi have a slight whimpering sound as she nodded "Please James! I-I don't want to come to class anymore!"

"Oh my god!" he mumbled hugging her tightly "K-kotomi if-if I knew this would happen I would _NEVER_ have asked you to attend class!"

"I'm sorry James!" she whimpered burying her head into his chest "I failed you! I couldn't even last an entire day in that classroom!"

The door suddenly creaked open and Sekai stepped into the room "Hey losers!" she exclaimed with a slight chuckle.

Like a scene from a horror movie James slowly turned his head looking into her direction "You!-" he growled his eyes glancing at Sekai with intense ferocity sending a chill up her spine.

"L-look I-I can expl-"

James sat Kotomi down and slowly walked over to Sekai with an intense silence filling the room to the point that you could hear a pin drop. He clung onto his right hand desperately trying not to flip out.

"Sekai!" he growled as her eye's widened.

"O-ok James you're starting to scare me!"

 _ **To be continued**_


	30. Chapter 29: Sekai's Past

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 29: Sekai's past.**_

James threw Sekai against the wall with both his hand's grasped tightly around her throat.

"I-I-I-" Sekai choked struggling to get the word's out of her mouth "I'm sorry!"

James's grip became tighter causing Sekai to make a faint choking sound as she desperately tried to release his hand's from around her neck.

"I've f***ing had it with you Sekai!" he growled as Kotomi's whimpering became worse "You treat us like shit for no damn reason and then you and your friends have the nerve to bully kotomi and try to cut her hair off!"

"Ack! P-please!" Sekai could feel herself becoming lightheaded as her heart and lungs pumped desperately for oxygen her legs slowly beginning to tremble and slump down towards the ground.

The door slowly opened with a faint creak and Ryou stepped in looking completely exhausted.

"Ok I'm here Ja-" as soon as she saw what had transpired she covered her mouth to hide a faint gasp of shock hurriedly running towards James grabbing his arm's attempting to pull them away

"J-james!" Ryou stuttered "What are you doing?!" she pulled James away with the two of them falling onto the floor with a faint crash with Sekai falling on her knees rubbing her throat coughing and spluttering violently.

James groaned scratching his head glancing at Ryou with a look of hatred that sent a chill up her spine.

"Ryou you idiot!" he exclaimed pointing at Sekai "That bitch over there has been bullying Kotomi and made her really upset! I was only-"

 _ **TWAK!**_

He felt a horrible burning pain on the side of his face as Ryou slapped him hard. Before his head could even hit the ground Ryou had grabbed him by the collar and looked at him with a look of disgust and horror.

"That doesn't mean you can just strangle people!" Ryou cried out trying to remain calm "It looked like you'd have killed her if I hadnt come in time! James you cant just take your anger out on people like that!"

He gave a silent gasp and looked at his hand's with complete and utter shock over what he'd just done.

"I-i-i d-d-didn't m-mean to-"

" _ **ARE YOU A F***ING PSYCHO?!**_ " Sekai exclaimed still coughing violently.

"Look please!-" Ryou exclaimed turning her head towards her "He isn't normally li-" Ryou's eyes suddenly widened.

"S-sekai?" Ryou gasped.

Sekai straightened her classes looking at Ryou curiously "Hang on!" she mumbled under her breath "Are you-Ryou Fujibayashi?"

"Wait you two know each other?" James raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah" Ryou chuckled nervously "We went to the same primary school!"

"Damn this is a pretty weird coincidence!" he thought.

"mmhhh" Sekai nodded her head "Oh I remember the days!" she reminisced "The days when everything was sweet and innocent! Sunshine and rainbows and that kinda crap!"

"Yeah" Ryou chuckled in response.

"Although when it comes to my school days they weren't very _innocent_ at all!" Sekai clenched her teeth with a faint growl.

"What're you talking about?" James murmured.

Brushing herself off Sekai stood up towering over the two pointing at Ryou with a glare of hatred and anger "Every single day for several years her sister used to pick on me!" she exclaimed trying not to flip out "Kyou would always take my lunch she'd kicked me around in the playground throw me into piles of mud! I could go on but we would be here all day!"

"Wait so-" James mumbled turning to Ryou "So you and your sister-" he gave a slight pause in his word's glancing away from her "were bullies?"

No no!" Ryou gasped "Look it's complicated but back when we were kid's sis was a _bit_ of a bully-"

"A _bit_ of a bully?!" Sekai growled "The thing's that your sister used to do to me! you call all of that a _bit_ of bullying?!"

S-sekai please!" Ryou cried out "Sis has changed since then really-"

"Pah!" Sekai scoffed "I'm getting out of here I'm not listening to this damn crap!" Sekai hurriedly left the room slamming the door behind her.

"Damn-" James murmured "So Kyou was a bully when you were kids? No offence but I find that quite easy to believe"

"mmmhhh" Ryou nodded feeling ashamed "We had a rough time growing up with our home situation and I guess sis's only way of dealing with it was too bully people. I-I never agreed with it but often she'd threaten to bully me if I tried to prevent her from hurting anyone"

"Oh my god" James gasped putting his arm around Ryou bringing them closer together "When I was in my first year at secondary school-" James began to explain "I used to bully people because I was under stress too. No one seemed to understand what I had been through and if they did they didn't care and I took my anger out on people."

Ryou's eyes widened as she listened to his word's "Wow" she murmured "I never imagined _you_ as a bully"

"Well I think we all do it at some point in our lives-"

"Yeah" Ryou agreed.

Brushing himself off James stood up and walked over to Kotomi who had now calmed down and was now rubbing her bloodshot red eyes. "You ok Kotomi?" he asked patting her on the head.

"Yeah" Kotomi sniffled "Now that Sekai's gone"

"Look you don't have to go to your next class" he assured her "If you're more comfortable using the library then please use it!"

"Yeah" Kotomi agreed in a depressed tone of voice.

"Listen guys" Ryou spoke up "I know it doesn't seem like it but Sekai _was_ at least a nice person back in the day. Perhaps she's had all the anger and frustration building up inside of her after all these years and poor Kotomi here is the one that she's taking that anger out on."

"Makes sence to me" he agreed.

"And _maybe_ if you talk to her she'll leave Kotomi alone?" Ryou suggested.

"I think that _could_ work" Kotomi agreed "James go and look for Sekai and see if the two of you can talk"

"But what about you?" he asked.

"Oh it's fine!" Ryou assured "I'll look after her for you!"

Taking a deep breath he placed his arms around Ryou hugging her "Thanks Ryou!"

"I-it's no problem at all!" she chucked blushing red.

After letting her go James hurriedly ran out of the classroom in search of Sekai leaving Ryou and Kotomi alone.

...

After asking around James was eventually able to find Sekai sitting alone in Class-A. She sat in the corner of the room sulking quietly with her head buried in her chest.

James walked towards Sekai quietly. Perhaps deep down she was a sensitive person but just didn't want to show it for fear of being bullied again but in the process had become a bully and making people just as miserable as she had been many years ago.

"Sekai" James whispered.

With a faint gasp Sekai looked up towards James her glasses foggy from where she'd been crying and a few dry lines of tears ran down her face.

"G-go away!" she sniffled "Just get lost!"

"Sekai please!" he whispered grasping her arm "Ryou told me how Kyou used to bully you when you were a kid and-"

" _ **SO WHAT?!**_ " She shouted accidently spitting in his face " _ **YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME YOU BASTARD!**_ " she pushed his hand away from her arm stood up and pushed him hard against the wall " _ **YOU THINK THAT IF YOU APOLOGIZE TO ME THAT I'M GONNA BE FRIENDS WITH YOU OR SOMETHING?! I WILL NEVER BE FRIENDS WITH YOU!**_ "

She put her hand on her chest taking a few deep breaths.

"Sekai please calm down!" he whispered.

" _ **NO I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! YOU TRIED TO F***ING KILL ME AND MORE IMPORTANTLY YOU CLAIMED YESTERDAY THAT YOU WERE AN ARTIST-**_ "

"Well I don't see what me claiming to be an artist has to do with this" he murmured.

" _ **I WON'T ALLOW ANOTHER ARTIST INTO THIS DAMN SCHOOL! I'M BETTER THAN YOU JAMES! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A F***ING AMATURE! I'M SUPERIOR TO YOU AND YOU'D BETTER NOT FORGET THAT!**_ "

"T-that's not the-"

" _ **THAT IS THE POINT!**_ " She exclaimed gasping loudly with all the shouting clearly hurting her throat " _ **YOU THINK THAT WE CAN BE FRIEND'S AND THAT I'LL FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU OR SOMETHING THAT'S IT ISN'T IT?**_ "

She suddenly began to punch James on the shoulder as fresh tears began to run down her face.

" _ **JUST F***ING LEAVE ME ALONE! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME! THE ONLY REASON I BULLY ICHINOSE IS BECAUSE SHE PISSES ME OFF OK?!**_ "

James grabbed Sekai's hand stopping her from hitting him "Look Sekai all I'm saying is you need to think!" he explained "I may not know you very well if even at all but I know what being bullied is like and what it's like to bully people and I just want you to know that you're making Kotomi and anyone else that you might bully just as miserable as you were as a kid!"

Sniffling light Sekai moved her hand away from James glancing away from him with tears continuing to run down her face "Just get lost!" she scoffed.

Without saying another word James walked over to the door before turning to take one last look at Sekai.

"just _think_ about what I've told you ok?" he said before turning back to the door and leaving the classroom with Sekai on her own.

Clenching her fist she punched the table hard and kicked a chair onto the ground with a loud clang echoing through the room.

"Y-your a f***ing jerk James!"

...

The bell had rung and James hurriedly set off towards his classroom arriving just in time before the lesson started.

He glanced over at Ryou sitting at her desk and walked over to her.

"Well?" Ryou asked with a look of concern on her face.

"No luck" he shook his head "She wouldn't listen"

"I see" she murmured "Kotomi's gone back to the library by the way. she's still a little shaken up"

"Thanks for looking after her Ryou" he sighed patting her on the head "Your a good friend"

He then proceeded to walk to his seat giving a loud sigh as he removed his flat-cap and scratched his head. Before he could even begin to relax Okazaki hurried into the room and sat in his seat behind James.

"Where were you during break?" Okazaki asked.

"With a friend" he replied "Why?"

"You were meant to help us with the carving or did you do some in the art room?"

"W-wait carving?" he turned his head with a raised eyebrow "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about!" he exclaimed "The star carvings for Fuko!"

"Fuko?" James looked at Okazaki even more confused "I don't know anyone called Fuko"

"Oh crap not you too!" Okazaki gasped.

 _ **To be continued.**_


	31. Chapter 30: Unblocking the memory

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 30: Unblocking the memory.**_

After the second bell Okazaki grabbed James by the collar hurriedly dragging him through the corridor's and into the drama-club room.

"Sit down!" Okazaki exclaimed throwing him onto the ground with James slowly slouching back up to his feet proceeding to pull out a chair and sit down.

"Right!" James exclaimed clapping his hands "What the heck is going on?!"

"Just look at this!" Okazaki grumbled rummaging through a green bag on the table proceeding to bring out a wooden star carving shoving it into his face.

Pulling his head back a few inches he turned his head over to Nagisa standing near the door with her hand's placed in the air as if she were grasping someone's shoulders.

"Nagisa!" he shouted towards her "What is this about?!"

"Just focus on that starfish James!" she replied with her hand's looking as if she was gripping something tighter.

"Starfish?" James mumbled turning his head slowly his facial expression turning into a frown as he tried desperately to concentrate although deep down did not know what exactly for.

"Hmmm-" James hummed under his breath as his eyes began to ache from the sheer strain that he was putting them through with staring at the star carving.

"Come on James!" Nagisa shouted with a large amount of frustration in her voice "Please remember Fuko!"

"Fuko?"

And within an instant all the memories were suddenly flooding back. Meeting Fuko for the first time helping her Nagisa and Okazaki carve the starfish and asking Kotomi for help.

His eye's widened gasping in complete and utter shock covering his mouth to hide this.

"How could I-" he thought to himself feeling completely confused and frightened "How could I just completely forget about her like that?"

His eyeline glanced over to Nagisa and there standing in front of her was Fuko who looked as if she was about to break out into a fit of tears.

"F-fuko I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed with a hint of panic "I-i didn't mean to!"

"James-" Okazaki tried to assure him immediately noticing James's panic.

"I-I'm getting old!" he cried out "I'm almost 18 and my memory is beginning to go! I-I-"

"It's fine James" Fuko assured him wrapping her arm's around him and hugging him tightly "It's not your fault"

"It's been happening a lot!" Nagisa explained with a depressed tone of voice.

"Yeah!" Okazaki agreed "Fuko tried several times to give some more stars around to student's and they just completely walked past her as if they didn't even realise that Fuko was even there in the first place"

"T-this doesn't make any sence!" James cried out as his voice began to sound choked with his eyes becoming watery and tear's proceeded to run down his face "It's like something out of a Sci-Fi show or something!"

Giving James a few more moments to calm down they began to explain what would be happening next.

"So we're still having Fuko and Miss Ibuki meet right?" James asked with a slight hint of worry in his voice.

"Y-yes but-" she mumbled glancing away from them all "but I don't know if my voice will reach her"

"I don't know what you mean by that-" James cleared his throat whilst wiping his eye's "But I'll help you guy's out!" he chuckled "Besides I'm quite interested in meeting miss Ibuki anyway since she was this school's art teacher after all!"

"Right then it's settled!" Okazaki murmured.

Suddenly proceeding to stand up James walked over to the door signaling for Fuko to follow him.

"Fuko!" he exclaimed "I need you to come to the old library with me!"

...

"Ok we need to come in here quietly!" he whispered to Fuko with his head placed against the door listening for any noise whilst Fuko silently replied with a solute.

"Ok-" he whispered pushing the door slowly open with a slight creak "I don't think anyone else is in there"

They both entered the library trying to be as quiet as possible as they walked over to Kotomi's usual spot where as always she was engrossed in a text-book.

"Kotomi-chan!" he whispered kneeling down towards her and tapping her on the shoulder. She slowly turned her head greeting him with a worried smile clearly she was still shaken up by what has occurred with Sekai and her friends.

"Hi James" she murmured bookmarking her text-book and placing it onto the ground "Did you talk to Sekai?"

"Yes but she wouldn't listen" James shook his head "But that's not why I'm here"

"Oh?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Ok this is gonna sound weird but just hear me out ok?" he explained proceeding to rummage through his bag and grab the star-fish carving hiding it behind his back.

"Do you remember someone called Fuko?"

Kotomi stared at James blankly "Fuko who?"

James gave a loud sigh as he pulled at his sideburns "Ok plan-B!" he pulled out the starfish carving from behind him and placed it into her hands "Kotomi do you remember making one of these?"

She gave a faint gasp proceeding to look at the starfish in a rather childlike way "A star? or-" she mumbled under her breath "Or is it a star-fish?"

"Yes!" James exclaimed excitedly grabbing her shoulders "Come on Kotomi you can do it! Just concentrate and try to remember!"

It took a few minutes of constant thinking to try and unblock the memories hidden deep within her brain but soon she remembered everything and like James before her was completely shocked over how she could just forget Fuko.

"Oh James!" she gave a muffled gasp placing her hand over her mouth "H-how could I-"

"Ssshhh" James whispered hugging her "It's ok the same thing happened to me and it's been happening to everyone"

Fuko walked over to Kotomi and patted her on the head "It's ok Kotomi-Chan" she whispered sympathetically.

After giving Kotomi a few minutes to calm down Fuko explained to them that she had been in the art-room when James had flipped out on Sekai and had tried to calm him down but since none of them even realised she was there it had seemed pointless.

"Damn-" James murmured as he rubbed Kotomi's hand "You were there the whole time and we didn't even realise it!"

"But why?!" Kotomi exclaimed as tears ran down her face "H-how could we just forget you like that?!"

"I-" Fuko murmured glancing away from them "I think that it perhaps signifies that events are coming to a close"

"What does that even mean?!" Kotomi cried.

"I think-" James spoke up "That the more people becoming aware of the wedding and the date's presumably coming closer together perhaps Fuko is beginning to disappear from not only our minds but also the physical reality of our world"

Fuko nodded in agreement.

"My theory-" James continued "Is your in a coma Fuko you're in the hospital right now in physical form flesh and blood but your spirit walks around the school trying to make people aware of the wedding in time"

"But-" Kotomi spoke up "Logic aside if she is a spirit perhaps something is going wrong with her physical body causing her to disappear?"

"Yes that seems right" James nodded "When myself Okazaki and Nagisa meet Miss Ibuki at the founders festival I'll see if I can slip in the question of what condition the physical Fuko is in"

"But does this mean that eventually we could _all_ forget Fuko?" Kotomi sniffled as more tears continued to run down her face.

"I don't know but-" James placed his hand on his chin in thought "But that'd seem to be the most logical conclusion"

"I-" Kotomi suddenly hugged Fuko much to her surprise "I don't want to forget Fuko!"

"K-kotomi it's going to be fi-"

"We don't know that!" she exclaimed "What if we all forget about her and instead of disappearing she's still at the school! She'll be all alone forever!"

"It's ok Kotomi-" Fuko whispered "Everything will be alright and I'm glad to have met so many great people like you guys"

"Look I-" James cleared his throat "I think I should leave you two alone for a while and let you get to know each other a little more.

 _ **To Be Continued.**_


	32. Chapter 31: The Founders Festival

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 31: Exploring the founders festival.**_

The next few week's seemed to pass by fairly quickly. James Kotomi Okazaki and Nagisa had attempted to pass around more starfish carvings in order to make more people aware of the wedding in time but with little to no success.

Some people had simply passed by with a simple " _no thank you!_ " and others with more _colourful language_ and it seemed as though their efforts were in vain.

To make things worse even more people had begun to forget Fuko with Sunohara and the Fujibayashi twins being the first noticeable victims. It appears to Okazaki that perhaps it occurred first with the people who didn't know her that well and would slowly over time begin to affect the rest of them weather they tried to prevent it or not but nevertheless they tried hard to keep their memories of Fuko alive and well and so far Akio Sanae and Victoria still retained their memories too.

But now the time for the founders festival had arrived and the school was absolutely bustling with excitement. Thousands of people cluttered the corridor's with students parents and visitors from the around the town and other schools.

"God help us if there's a fire alarm!" James remarked upon seeing the thousands of people entering the school thinking that they would all probably trample each other to death in the chaos if a fire alarm were to occur.

It'd been a struggle rummaging through the corridor's trying not to get crushed by passerbyers and his classroom as well as the others were packed and bursting with activity with Classes B and D joining together conjuring up a small maid cafe that James hoped to be able to check out later.

Through what seemed like a miracle James arrived at the art-room and was instantly stopped in his tracks with a sign that read:

 _Keep out! This room is not to be opened until 1:OOPM!_

Turning his head cautiously making sure no one was around he proceeded to press the door forward hoping it wasn't locked.

"James!" An exhausted Kotomi cried out running towards him making him jump out of his skin with surprise.

"Oh Kotomi!" he gasped placing his hand on his chest "Jesus you scared me!"

"S-sorry!" she gasped wiping sweat from her forehead searched through her pocket bringing out a fresh bottle of spring water quickly unscrewing the top and guzzling it down as if it were a hot summer's day. "I've spent the last several minutes trying to get past the crowds!" she coughed with a few drops of water having gone down the wrong way.

"Yeah!" James remarked with a slight chuckle "Same here!"

Still chuckling under his breath James brought their attention back to the door "Do you know what this sign is about?" he asked pointing his finger in the direction of the hand drawn sign.

Kotomi merely shook her head "No sorry" she took a few steps forward looked at the sigh and turned her head to James with a concerned look "Should we go inside?"

Hey you two!" a familiar voice shriek making them both instantly turn around in fright "Cant you read?!"

Slowly hobbling along carrying what appeared to be two heavy carrier bags was Sekai with her arm's shaking from the sheer weight of the bag's her leg's struggling to stay straight.

"S-sorry Sekai" Kotomi mumbled proceeding to hide behind James who could instantly feel her breathing heavily in panic behind his neck.

"Well!_" James tutted "Haven't seen you for a while!"

"Well!_" Sekai groaned as a few beads of sweat began to run down her forehead "Considering you turned all psycho on me last time I didn't exactly wanna come face to face with _you_ of all people again!" she remarked dropping the bag's taking long deep breaths and stretching out her arms.

"Need any help?" James asked gesturing his hand towards one of the bags.

"No I-" Sekai suddenly bit her lower lip hard closed her eye's and swallowed her pride "Ok yeah I think I need a little help!" she chuckled embarrassed.

James proceeded to pick up one of the bags and was immediately prevent from lifting it up more than a few inches off the ground due to the sheer weight of the bag which instantly reminded James of the heavy weight's he had attempted to lift during a school event where he and the rest of his class had gone to a local gym a year or two earlier.

"O-ok!" James groaned desperately trying to keep the bag off the ground "Now I see why you were exhausted!"

"Yeah now you know how it feels dumbass!"

As the two spoke Kotomi proceeded to push the door open and signalled for the two to enter the room.

"Thanks Kotomi!" James groaned enter the room still struggling with the bag.

"Yeah" Sekai smirked "Thanks Ichinose!" she proceeded to punch Kotomi in the gut causing her to cough and splutter.

"Sekai!" James grumbled running over to Kotomi making sure she was alright proceeding to put his arm around her waist and walked her over to a nearby table.

"Do that again_" James spat pointing his finger at Sekai giving her a chill up her spine as his eye's pierced at her with the stare of a cold blooded killer "And we're gonna have a repeat of the other week!"

Sekai gulped nervously placing her hand onto her throat rubbing it gently and nodded "mmhhh"

As if nothing had happened James instantly turned back to his regular happy-go-lucky self "So!" he clapped his hands looking around the room in awe "What's in the bags?"

Giving a faint gasp Sekai straightened her glasses with her cheeks becoming a light pinkish colour "They're-they're my-" Sekai's last words were impossible to hear as they slowly became a faint mumble.

"What was that?" James asked again with Kotomi watching her with curious interest.

"They're my-" she played around with her collar and cleared her throat whilst her pinkish face very quickly became a dark red "They're my paintings ok!"

"Oh!" James and Kotomi gasped with their eye's widening with intense burning interest.

"I'll show you if you're interested but-" She took off her glasses wiping them with her sleeve rubbed her cheeks feeling them burning like fire and proceeded to rummage through the carrier bag nearest to her bringing out a canvas wrapped firmly tight in bubble-wrap to the point that it was impossible to see it's contents without removing the wrapping.

"But if you guy's are just gonna laugh at my artwork I'm going to f***ing strangle you slowly and painfully!"

James gave a nervous chuckle with Kotomi once again hiding behind him wrapping her arms tightly around his waist.

Carefully removing the sticky-tape from the back of the bubble-wrap Sekai carefully brushed off the canvas and turned it around for the two to see.

The two of them gasped in awe at Sekai's painting.

It was a landscape painting something that James had yet to master in either paint or pencil. A bright field of sunflowers filled the lower half of the canvas each one filled with immense detail from the light shining onto the petals to the tiny orangy yellow seeds in the middle of the sunflowers. The stems were a darkish green with patches of bright spots and merged into one another just like a real patch of sunflowers.

The sky was a beautiful light blue with white fluffy clouds blended perfectly into the mix which appeared to melt into the yellowish grass below.

"T-that's beautiful!" Kotomi gasped open mouthed while James looked at the painting speechless.

Sekai gave a nervous chuckle as her cheeks continued to blush her eyes pierced at James glaring at him with a frown "Well James?"

"Sekai" James cleared his throat whilst thumping his chest hard "Your amazing! Really! You're far better at painting than I am!"

She couldn't help but to smile happily from ear to ear as her blushing increased her glasses fogging up causing her to remove them giving them a quick wipe with her sleeve.

"Told you so!" she sang in an arrogant egotistical sounding tone of voice "I'd like to see you even attempt to do better than that!"

"Tell you what-" James clapped his hand's "I'll bring a couple of my own paintings to school next week and you can give me your opinions ok?"

"Sure thing!" Sekai chuckled giving a thumbs up.

James and Kotomi proceeded to help Sekai unpack the rest of the canvases placing all twelve of them around the room in display with Sekai explaining that she was hosting a small art exhibition filled with all her own work to show off her talent to guests with her friends Hana and Chiaki guestering money for people to enter and see the paintings.

"I see-" James mumbled "You're using your talent to make money"

"An artist need's to make a living my dear James!" Sekai scoffed placing her hand's on her hips.

"Hmm" James shrugged "I guess I mean Van Gogh was like that. Always trying to make a living off of his paintings although sadly he wasn't the most successful of artist"

Kotomi nodded in agreement "It's ironic that in his time he was cast out as an insane lunatic who made terrible painting's but is today regarded as one of the most influential painters of the 19th century"

James nodded in agreement with Sekai glaring at Kotomi open mouthed in complete shock "I didn't know you knew about Van Gogh Ichinose!"

"Yes" Kotomi nodded "I know roughly what his life's story was and seen a few of his paintings"

"My favorite artist" James smiled.

"Meh" Sekai shrugged "I've never cared much for his work. I've always been more of a Picasso fan"

"Wait-" James cleared his throat feeling a little surprised "So you _don't_ like Van Gogh?"

"Well it's not that I dislike his work-" Sekai explained straightening her glasses "It's just I never really cared for his work. _The sunflowers_ piece was alright but some of his other work like " _The Potato Eaters_ " " _The Yellow House_ " " _Bedroom in Arlse_ " " _The old mill_ " and " _The Red Vineyard_ " were just-just-" She began to play with her hair thinking about how to describe her thoughts.

"He just had a rather cliche style!" She remarked clicking her fingers "Yeah that was it! I mean most of the stuff that he'd paint they'd all been done before and my god I'm sorry but I really dislike the way he'd use his brushes! Just slobbing thick layers of paint onto the canvas" Ugh!" She proceeded to make a strange vomiting sound as she finished her sentence with James feeling a little frustrated that someone could say such a thing about his favorite and most influental artist.

"To be fair some people say that that was the charm of his work!" Kotomi remarked upon noticing James's frustration.

"Look I respect your opinion Sekai-" James spoke up "But I personally think your wrong I mean-" Sekai suddenly glanced at him with look of deep burning hated with a faint growl

"I mean he was at least passionate about his work and worked day and night (quite literally) to finish several paintings that he could sell. Sure he wasn't the most successful painter and had his arrogance and a mental illness that no one understood back then-" he suddenly stopped himself biting his lower lip "Actually I don't think even _now_ we know exactly what his illness was!"

Nope" Sekai shook her head "Anyway please continue"

"Well what I'm trying to get at is he had such a burning passion for what he did and it's a tragedy that in his time he wasn't highly regarded.

"Well-" Sekai sighed taking a deep breath "A lot of artists aren't very highly regarded in their time but I do see your point"

"So how come your favorite artist is Picasso?" Kotomi spoke up.

"Hmm" She placed her finger on her chin thinking hard "Well I-I guess it's because of how absolutely insane some of his work was! Like _Les Demoiselles d'Avignon_ -"

"Oh yeah!" Kotomi interrupted much to her annoyance "James and I saw that in a book a while ago"

"Yeah" James nodded "We talked about how at the time it was seen as a horrible piece by Picasso's artists friends and that a friend of his felt that releasing the painting to the public would lead to suicide"

"Damn!" Sekai thought to herself glaring at James "This guy actually knows what he's talking about!"

"Yeah-" Sekai agreed snapping out of her thoughts "He tried something new and the public just wasn't ready for it. But a few of his other paintings such as " _Women of Algiers_ " " _Girl Before a Mirror_ " " _The Blind Man's Meal_ " and " _The Death of Casagemas_ " are just a few other's that really stick out to me as amazing pieces of art.

"Well I certainly agree that his art was amazing-" James sighed "But a lot of his work I wouldn't have in my house or flat in this case!"

"Hmp!" Sekai scoffed "At least I can recognise great art when I see it!"

James glared at her with another look of anger "Why you-"

Sensing that another argument breaking out at any moment Kotomi hurriedly put herself between the two "Both of you please don't argue!"

"Yeah-" James sighed twirling his sideburns "I guess you're right. Shall we just agree that our tastes in art and artists are relatively different from each other?"

"I guess" Sekai shrugged "I really don't give a damn about your opinion either way" she said before muttering under her breath "amature!"

"Well letting that one slide-" James continued "Before I forget I just wanna say-"

"If it's about strangling me the other week just shut up and forget about!" Sekai interrupted.

"Damn!" James thought to himself "A few moments ago we seemed to be getting along fine! Now she's gone back to her arrogant and bitchy self!"

Giving another sigh James and looked around at Sekai's paintings "So this art exhibit isn't till 1:00 right?"

"Yeah?" Sekai murmured raising an eyebrow.

"Well if you're not doing anything till then do you wanna join us? I was hoping for Kotomi and myself to walk around the founders festival and see the event's that are take place. In all likelihood this will most likely be the only one I'll ever see so I might as well look around!"

"Hmm" Sekai thought for a few seconds as she bit her lower lip "Yeah sure I've got nothing else to do till one"

"What about Hana and Chiaki?" Kotomi asked.

"Oh those two-" Sekai rolled her eye's "Knowing them they're trying to attract guy's and attempt to get boyfriends or something. Personally I think it's pointless I mean romance is a complete waste of time after all"

"I guess" James shrugged proceeding to walk towards the door and opened it "We might as well start looking around now I guess?"

Sekai glanced at Kotomi evilly sending a chill up her spine causing her to run towards James tugging at his arm.

"Are you sure this is a good idea James?" She whispered as her voice started to sound shaky.

"Sekai!" James clicked pointing his fingers towards her "Do _anything_ to Kotomi and I mean anything and you'll answer to me!"

"Whatever!" Sekai murmured straightening her glasses.

"Actually!" James suddenly thought "If you do anything bad not only will you have to answer to me but I'll get you to have " _a talk_ " with Kyou!"

Sekai gave a faint gasp her eyes widening with terror "N-no" she cried "I-I-I-I-I'll be good I promise! Please don't let Kyou near me!"

"Damn!" James raised his eyebrow surprised "I guess that was going a little too far I mean she's terrified! Kyou must have really made her life a misery back then. At least I have some insurance!"

...

The two set off and spent the next hour or so looking around at the various events. They tried different foods that were being sold watched comedy routines that another class had arranged and looked at an exhibition some of the students had prepared for model making with carefully handmade sculptures of churches buildings skyscrapers churches etc with the three of them being very impressed by the remarkable craftsmanship that had gone into making the little models.

After leaving the model exhibition the three came across a photo booth currently not in use.

"Hmm" James chuckled "Maybe we should take a photo to remember this day!"

"Yeah that sounds great!" Kotomi jumped up her eye's widening excitedly.

"Meh!" Sekai murmured folding her arms around her chest "You guy's can go in if you wish but photographs really aren't my thing"

"Well if you're sure" James raised an eyebrow as he and Kotomi entered the photo-booth. No colour filled the inside only bright white with a black curtain near the exit concealing them from passerbyers. Inserting a few coin's James looked at the screen looking for an option for the photoframe.

"I guess it could just look like a regular frame" he mumbled under his breath trying to move his arms around with the tight space inside the booth. He didn't notice but Kotomi was beginning to become flustered and blushing red clutching her hand onto her chest. Taking a step-back he turned his head as best as he could into Kotomi's direction "So how do you wanna do this? Just smiling or do you want our arms round each other?"

Kotomi's blushing increased heavily as she slowly put her arm around James and pulled him a few inches towards her "Is this ok?" she mumbled in a shaky voice.

"Y-yeah!" he cleared his throat feeling his chest tightening up as his heart pounded. Using his free had he clicked the button and a countdown appeared on the screen.

 _3...2..._

Before the counter reached one Kotomi kissed James on the cheek the camera flashed making them both feel extremely dizzy and gave each other a few moments to recover from the shock.

"I-I-I" James stuttered feeling shocked from Kotomi's sudden actions.

"It was just a _friendly_ kiss-" Kotomi tried to assure him still blushing deep red "That's all"

The photo's slid out of a small printout with two photo's appearing. The picture showed Kotomi kissing James with him giving a rather amusing shocked face making the pair of them laugh as they left the photo booth.

"Well you two seemed to enjoy yourselves in there!" Sekai smirked as the two of them blushed violently.

"Come on!" Sekai chuckled "Let's try this maid-cafe that your class is helping out with"

As the three of them began to walk James took out his phone and checked the time.

 _12:25PM_

"Not long now" he remarked as in a short time from now he Okazaki Nagisa and Fuko would be meeting Miss Ibuki soon.

...

The three of them had to queue up before they could enter the maid-cafe and it took at least twenty five minutes before they were even able to get in.

"Have a nice time!" a girl that James did not know by name but knew was in his class greeted the three of them at the door gesturing them to enter. James tried his best not to blatantly stare at the maid-out fit that the girl wore. She wore a white apron with a one piece shirt and skirt and a white hat that reminded him of what a nurse would wear. Despite the fact he found the maid-outfits not very striking he did find that the girls wearing them looked rather attractive and was very certain that he has some kind of fetish of girls in maid outfits.

"Come on!" Sekai grunted pushing him into the room making him blush a light shade of pink upon realising that he'd been gazing at the girl in a complete trance.

"Ugh typical guy!" Sekai murmured biting her lower lip while finding a free table "Eye googling at girls in uniform!" she scoffed as she pulled herself out a chair.

The three of them sat down with James trying to cover his embarrassed face with a menu while Kotomi looked around the room. "It sure is lively in here!" she murmured worriedly glaring at the crowds.

"Well my guess is most of the guy's coming here just wanna look at the girls in their outfits" Sekai chuckled turning her head to James "Just like our little perverted flat-capped friend here!"

"I-I don't know what your talking about!" James chuckled embarrassed.

A faint tapping sound came closer towards them and the three of them proceeded to look through the menu's before their waitress could arrive.

"May I take your order?" A light chuckle greeted them.

The three of them looked to reply to their host and saw that it was Ryou serving them.

"Oh hey Fujibayashi" Sekai shrugged.

"Just call me Ryou" she smiled nervously.

Giving a faint gasp Sekai turned her head around the room frantically "Is Kyou here?!"

"Yeah" Ryou nodded "But I made sure I was the one to serve you guys since I know you're still afraid of sis"

"Thanks!" Sekai sighed placing her hand on her chest breathing a sigh of relief.

"So are you three getting along?" Ryou asked curiously.

"Well-"

Before James could even barely begin his sentence Sekai gestured her hand to his lips.

"I'm just hanging out with these two imbeciles cause I've honestly got nothing better to do"

"Gee you sure don't sugarcoat things!" James grumbled.

"I think James and I have at least enjoyed ourselves" Kotomi smiled.

"Anyway" Sekai sighed looking through the menu "I'll have an iced-tea with sponge cake"

"I'll just have a cup of tea and an iced bun" James replied.

"I'll have some green tea and a piece of toffee cake" Kotomi asked.

"Right right" Ryou smiled writing down their orders down onto a notepad.

"By the way" James murmured to Ryou "You look really cute in that maid outfit"

Ryou instantly blushed dark red "I-I don't!" she shrieked in a slightly high pitched voice.

"Nah it looks great!" James chuckled "If you ever get access to another one maybe I'll do a sketch of you dressed up in one"

Ryou mumbled to herself still deep in red while Sekai eyed James up. "Gee talk about _creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy!_ " she whispered in a slight sing song tone of voice.

"I was trying to compliment her!" James blushed.

"Ha!" Sekai laughed "If a guy said that to me and then proceeded to say they wanted to sketch me dressed up I'd given them a slap in the face!"

Kotomi gave a slight grumble glancing away from James.

"You ok Kotomi?" he asked upon noticing this and grasped her shoulder.

"Ooooh!" Sekai whistled "I think little miss girl genius is jealous!"

"N-no I'm not" Kotomi replied with her face blushing a light shade of pink.

"What's the deal with you two anyway?" Sekai asked raising an eyebrow "You both seem rather close to me. Are you dating?"

The two of them made a slight gasp and they blushed "No!" James nervously tried to assure her "We're not!"

"Really?" Sekai grinned "Considering what I heard in the photo booth-" Sekai cleared her throat "It was just a friendly kiss!" she said in a high pitched tone of voice as Kotomi covered her face with her hands feeling completely embarrassed.

"Come on Sekai stop it!" James whined feeling flustered "You wouldn't like it if either of us did the same to you you know!"

"No cause I'd beat you to a pulp!" Sekai glared at James deep into his eye's sending a chill up his spine.

"Here's your order!" Ryou suddenly interrupted carrying a tray with their orders.

Before James could stand up to help place the contents onto the table Fuko suddenly ran up towards them also wearing a maid-outfit. "Fuko will help you!"

James immediately sat down as Fuko placed everything onto the table "Enjoy!" Ryou chuckled walking away.

"Oh yeah it's you" Sekai spoke to Fuko "The girl who's sisters getting married right?"

"Yes" Fuko smiled "Sekai do you think you could-"

"Sorry-" she gestured a slight wave with her hand "Like I said I'm not a fan of weddings and besides I don't even know your sister"

"I swear you just wanna smack her" James thought to himself "At least Sekai still remembers Fuko surprisingly!.

As the four of them chatted together the Fujibayashi sisters watched over them.

"So Sekai's still afraid of me?" Kyou murmured.

"Yeah" Ryou nodded "She seemed terrified when she asked if you were around here"

"Argh" Kyou sighed pulling at her hair "Perhaps when there's free time I'll apologize to her. I really want to you know. From what you told me the other day I really must have damaged that girl.

"You cant blame yourself sis" Ryou mumbled to herself.

"By the way who's the girl with them?" Kyou asked pointing towards them "That one with the red beads in her hair?"

"Can I have some service please?" a voice cried out making the twins jump.

"I'll explain later sis!" Ryou assured her brushing off her uniform "We'd better getting back to work!"

"W-what?!" Sekai shrieked open mouthed causing everyone to look and see what was going on "Your sister is _the_ miss Ibuki that used to teach here?"

"Y-you know her?" James and Kotomi both chuckled nervously as everyone stared at them

"I never met her!" Sekai exclaimed excitedly "But she's a legend at this school! We've not even had another art teacher since she left three years ago!"

"Hehe" James chuckled nervously "Well myself and my friends in the drama club will be greeting her so maybe-"

" _JAMES!_ " Sekai spat in his face grabbing him by the collar pulling him closer towards her " _YOU HAVE TO LET ME MEET HER PLEASE!_ "

"I-I don't mind" he stuttered nervously "B-but I'll have to check things with Okazaki and Nagisa!"

...

After calming Sekai down the three finished up their food and drink and left the classroom with Fuko assuring James that she'd be along with Okazaki and Nagisa soon.

"I guess we'll look around for a bit" James shrugged "Sekai what are you gonna do if Miss Ibuki arrives at the same time as your art exhibition?"

Sekai happily skipped along the corridor humming to herself "I'll see if this is a good opportunity to show her what I can do I'm sure she'll be impressed!"

"Ok but-" James cleared his throat "Just try not to show off"

"Pah!" Sekai stopped in her tracks turned to James and pointed at him "I'm not the type to boast!"

"There's a lot I could say about that but I won't!" James thought to himself.

"I'm sure she'll be glad to see Sekai's artwork" Kotomi remarked "It's a shame you didn't bring your paintings in today James"

"Yeah" James sighed scratching his head "My paintings have honestly been the last thing on my mind recently. speaking of showing off art-" James turned his head in Kotomi's direction "Do you wanna show me your drawing skills sometime?"

Kotomi nodded smiling "Sure!" she chuckled "Maybe next week"

"So Ichinose draws too eh?" Sekai thought to herself "Well at least I'll have something else to bully her with"

"Argh!" James and Kotomi shrieked.

"W-what?" Sekai turned her head and saw James and Kotomi both being pinned against the wall in mid air by Akira Kishimoto and Tite Tezuka two jerks who had bullied James on and off when they had the chance.

"Crap!" James groaned "I forgot about these guys!"

"P-please put me down!" Kotomi shrieked her eyes beginning to water.

The two chuckled loudly "We're taking the two of you outside!" Akira said "And this time they'll be no one to stop us from beating you two losers into a bloody pulp!"

Sekai watched stunned. She had no idea what to do in this situation. Fetching a teacher would be a futile effort with the four of them being gone by the time they would arrive at the scene and although she didn't like James and especially Kotomi she wanted to do something to help them. Thumping her chest she walked towards the two bullies and grabbed Akira by the arm.

"Hey!" she exclaimed "Leave them alone!"

"S-sekai!" Kotomi gasped half surprised half terrified.

Akira tightened his right hand grip on James painfully tight freeing his left hand slapping Sekai's glasses throwing them onto the ground making her blind.

"Argh!" she shrieked in a panicky voice "My glasses! I cant see!"

Akira kicked Sekai onto the floor causing her to crash with a loud thump but luckily her glasses were not damaged.

"F***ing nerd!" he chuckled.

"Oi you lot!" Tite screamed at the crowd watching the commotion "Unless you wanna join the four eyed girl I suggest you all get lost!"

As the crowd began to hurriedly walk away from the scene a person in a bear suit suddenly walked towards them.

"A bear?" Kotomi gasped.

The bear remained silent as it walked towards Sekai stood her up picked up her glasses passing them over to her giving them a slight clean.

"T-thank you!" Sekai murmured as she straightened her glasses and glared at the bear with a raised eyebrow.

The bear grabbed Akira's arm and before he could even react he was suddenly kicked halfway across the corridor with James slumping onto the floor.

"W-what the heck?" Tite gasped stunned before being met with the same fate.

The two were slouched against the wall at the end of the corridor knocked out cold.

"T-thank you!" Kotomi cried hugging the bear tightly.

"It was nothing" a muffled female voice answered that James instantly recognised "After all I'm just doing my job as a student patrolman" the bear removed its head revealing the person inside as none other than Tomoyo Sakagami.

"Tomoyo!" James smiled "Thanks! Honestly I thought we were in big trouble there!"

"Again it was nothing" Tomoyo smiled wiping sweat from her forehead. Clearly it was boiling having to wear the costume throughout the day.

"Oh I've heard of you" Sekai murmured "So what's with the bear costume?"

"I was patrolling the corridors keeping an eye out for trouble makers" Tomoyo explained "Certain people from rival schools would start up a fuss if they saw me around so I thought the costume would make a good cover up."

"Hmm makes sence" James shrugged.

Tomoyo grasped a furry hand onto James shoulder "You need to text me so I can add you into my phone contacts. Hopefully soon we can begin your self defence classes"

"Self defence classes?" Kotomi raised an eyebrow

"Yeah both Tomoyo and my mother felt I needed to learn how to defend myself so Tomoyo is going to teach me" James explained "And don't worry Tomoyo I'll text you tonight!" he smiled.

Sekai turned her head over to the wall glancing over at a clock "It's almost one"

"James!" Okazaki Nagisa and Fuko all ran up towards him.

"Hey guys!" he waved "Has Miss Ibuki arrived yet?"

"She'll be arriving any minute now!" Nagisa replied.

"Right!" James nodded with a seriously frown "Ok Kotomi Sekai just follow us!" he clapped his hands as Fuko ran down the corridor ahead of everyone else with James grabbing Kotomi by the hand proceeding to run after her "Later Tomoyo!" James exclaimed as he ran into the distance.

"Wait for me!" Sekai shrieked running off after them leaving Okazaki and Nagisa alone with Tomoyo. They all stared at each other in silence over what had just happened before the two of them ran off to meet Miss Ibuki and Tomoyo proceeded to put back the head of the bear outfit over her head walking towards the unconscious Akira and Tite to take them to the nurse's office before they could be disciplined by the teachers.

 _ **To be continued.**_

 _ **Author's Note: Damn it's been exactly a year since I posted the first chapter onto the site and I just wanna say thank you to all those who have read and reviewed this story given me your advice and criticism and helping me out with making this story as good as it could possibly be.**_

 _ **There's still a long way to go till the end of this story so perhaps this time next year the story will still be going strong but we'll see and even though this story has its dark moments and probably darker than the anime at times I do hope that my story has been able to capture the spirit of what Clannad is about.**_

 _ **Finally with the publication of this chapter I'm going to be taking a little break from Sketching Tomorrow and work on my Rosario+Vampire fanfiction as well as another Clannad Fanfiction and a High School of the Dead story that I have planned.**_


	33. Chapter 32: Meeting Miss Ibuki

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 32: Meeting Miss Ibuki.**_

Miss Ibuki the former art-teacher of _Hikarizaka Private High School_ stood waiting outside as she watched the festivities unfold and at the same time marveling over how different the school seemed since the three years since she had stopped teaching.

It came as a surprise to her to see that she was being greeted by not two but four people all of whom stopped dead in their tracks for a moment to catch their breath.

"Miss Ibuki!" Nagisa coughed "You came!"

"Oh course I did Nagisa and hello to you all!" she smiled

"I'm glad you could make it Koukou" Okazaki sighed as he gestured his hand towards James Kotomi and Sekai "We've had a few more people coming to greet you than we had planned"

"Oh it's fine!" she laughed "So who are your friends?"

Before either James or Kotomi could introduce themselves Sekai had already shoved them out the way almost causing them to collide with the floor as Sekai tried as hard as she could to hold in her excitement her eyes dilating back and forth "M-miss Ibuki my name is Sekai Tsugumi" she said as the two shook hands "I'm a great admirer of yours I'm trying my best to be an artist and I would hope that later if you have the time you'd like to see the exhibition that I've set up to showcase my work!"

"T-that's very kind of you" Koukou replied nervously. "When I used to teach here it was always such an honor to see what the students had created"

Sekai giggled to herself excitedly as James and Kotomi moved her aside gently to shake hands.

"I'm James Walker mahm!" he said "I am also an aspiring artist like Sekai however I dont have anything to show you. Honestly had I know I would have prepared something in honor of your arrival"

"And I'm Kotomi Ichinose" Kotomi bowed her head "I'm not an artist but I've been helping James Okazaki and Nagisa with their work"

"Well is really is a pleasure to meet the three of you!" Koukou replied "I'm sure all five of you are hard working students"

In the middle of the little group stood Fuko looking down towards the ground sadly. Koukou couldn't see her sister and James Kotomi Okazaki and Nagisa all realised it.

"She's right there!" James thought as he looked at Fuko "Why cant she see Fuko?"

"Have you heard this rumor?" Koukou explained "That my sister is healthy and running around with her friends?"

"Oh really?" James murmured trying to sound amazed despite the fact he and the others knew that in a way the rumor was true.

He then nudged Kotomi to play along "I wonder where such a rumor could have come from" Kotomi spoke in a rather unconvincing tone of voice.

"I don't know" Koukou replied as she looked at them all "But I know that's not possible. I see my sister in the hospital every day always in her sleeping state"

"Oh miss Ibuki!" Nagisa cried desperately trying not to burst into tears as Fuko held her hand in comfort

"James-" Sekai whispered in his ear pointing at Fuko discreetly "Isn't _that_ Fuko there her sister?"

" _Shh!_ " James put his hand over her mouth "Look it's a little complicated! Just keep your mouth shut and don't mention Fuko!"

" _Hmph!_ " Sekai scoffed crossly folding her arms around her chest glancing at him.

"But even if it is only in her dreams-" Koukou continued "I'm glad that she's able to play around with her friends"

"I'm sure that-" James cleared his throat "I'm sure that when she eventually recovers and returns to this school she will have lots of friends here mahm!"

Okazaki Nagisa and Kotomi all nodded in agreement.

"Fuko wasn't able to socialise much and had very few friends-" Koukou explained "So I do hope that if she returns in the near future that you will all become her friends"

"O-of course we will!" Kotomi choked wiping a tear from her eye.

"Koukou it's not my place to say-" Okazaki spoke up "But you should marry your fiance. I'm sure that's what your sister wants"

"Agreed!" James sighed "She only wants you to be happy!"

"Yes I think so too Miss Ibuki!" Kotomi and Nagisa both exclaimed.

"If she knew you were reconsidering her engagement just because of her-" Okazaki continued " I just know that she would be very sad. For you little sister's sake please marry him"

"Yes then she would think that your happiness was her happiness" Nagisa cried "I just know she would!"

Intense silence filled the air for a few seconds with all of them beginning to feel as if they had touched _too_ personal a subject.

Koukou smiled "I cant explain it but I feel like your words have a strange power. I feel like that child really thinks that. Until just now I wasn't able to think that way leaving Fuko all alone in a coma and becoming happy myself"

"Pardon me ma'am but that's a very selfish way of thinking" Okazaki spoke up

Koukou nodded "I have to say you could very well be right about that. But still I do want to be happy.

Fuko gave a faint chuckle that only the five of them could hear and all of them hoped that someday soon Fuko would awaken from her coma and return to the school.

...

"Slow down Sekai!" James gasped as he Kotomi Nagisa Okazaki Fuko and Koukou all rushed after her up a flight of stairs to the old art-room "I'm terribly sorry about her mahm!"

"There's no need to apologize James!" Koukou sighed "She just really wants to show me her creative side.

"She's really good Miss Ibuki!" Kotomi chuckled "I think you'll be impressed.

"I'm very much looking forward to seeing her work!" Nagisa exclaimed happily.

"To be honest I've got nothing better to do" Okazaki lied as in actual fact he was still watching over Fuko whom had decided to remain silent after the discussion earlier.

...

Outside the old art-room a small crowd of people students, visitors, and staff were lined up to see Sekai's artwork with Hana and Chiaki standing outside of the door welcoming people to the exhibition as they paid the entrance fee placing coins and notes into two large red buckets.

"Hope you enjoy yourselves!" Hana snickered

"We assure you that your money is going to a _good_ cause!" Chiaki smiled knowing that once the day was over the two of them and Sekai would be splitting the profits amongst themselves for their own personal use.

As they escorted people inside a faint running sound in the distance started to become louder and louder.

"What is that?" The two of them mumbled as they listened to the noise.

Sekai zoomed past rushing inside the room hurriedly pushing people back outside.

"Alright people shows over!" Sekai exclaimed as she shoved an elderly gentleman outside almost causing him to fall flat on his face.

Hana and Chiaki meanwhile desperately tried to keep the crowd calm as they protested.

" _I barely saw anything!_ "

" _We want our money back!_ "

"Sekai!" Chiaki cried "What the hell are you doing?"

"This art exhibition was your idea in the first place!" Hana whined as people began to take their money back from the buckets.

Sekai popped her head back outside "Look both of you shut up and deal with these people!" She spat "I have an important person coming to see my work and I don't want a bunch of gawking fools cluttering up the place!"

Before the two could say anything else to their friend and mistress they watched James Kotomi Koukou Okazaki and Nagisa all appeared suddenly from the staircase.

"Ichinose!" Hana exclaimed "What's she doing here?"

"So that's James eh?" Chiaki grinned eying him up "I'll admit Ichinose has good taste. That is _if_ he really is her boyfriend or not"

Upon noticing Hana and Chiaki Kotomi hurriedly hid behind James shaking terribly.

"It's ok" James whispered to her "I won't let them bully you"

"I take it this is the room?" Koukou questioned to herself.

Sekai suddenly ran out of the room giving them all a wave "Yes yes this is it Miss Ibuki!" Sekai grinned "Please come inside and look around!" she then turned her head to the crowd "Oi you lot! Scram!"

They all walked into the room with Hana and Chiaki eyeing up Kotomi hungrily with perverted grins on their faces.

"When today is done we'll have some fun and bully Ichinose for a bit!" they both laughed under their breath still trying to sort out the crowd who moaned about the others being allowed in but not them.

...

"Oh my!" Koukou gasped in awe as she looked at Sekai's paintings spread all around the room "Sekai these are absolutely amazing!" she walked over to a painting of a bridge and a windmill examining it "The detail the colours the shading it's all absolutely remarkable!"

Sekai squealed excitedly that her idol had praised her work "Thank you Miss Ibuki!" she exclaimed as her face blushed and her glasses fogged up

"I can honestly say that I would be proud to be your teacher if I still worked here"

"Pah!" James scoffed to himself in a selfish manner "I'm a far better artist than Sekai!"

"You could honestly make a healthy career out of painting Sekai!" Nagisa chuckled as she and Fuko looked on in amazement.

"Sekai have you tried selling your art?" Kotomi asked

"I suppose I could try eBay" Sekai replied placing her hand on her hips.

"Well Sekai it has been an absolute honor to see your artwork and I hope to perhaps see more in the future. I would also like to see your artwork too James"

"Yes-ma'am!" James bowed his head before suddenly receiving a crushing hug from Sekai "James!" she whispered as her face blushed a darker red with her glasses completely fogged up "I'm so happy right now I feel like I cant breath!"

"Yeah well-" James gasped trying to break free "I'm the one who cant breath!-"

 _ **To be continued.**_

 _ **Author's note: I apologize if this chapter isn't as well written as the last few. I've not written one of these in almost a month plus I've been busy at work on my High School of the Dead fanfiction.**_


	34. Chapter 33: The end draws near

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 33: The end draws near.**_

The sky slowly began to turn orange as the end of the day came near. James Kotomi Nagisa and Okazaki were all walking towards the residents of Kouko Ibuki to see if she really had reconsidered her engagement or not.

They all felt extremely tired after a hard day's work and wanted to rest but knew deep down that more important things were at stake.

"I'm surprised Sekai couldn't join us" Kotomi whispered to James.

"Meh" James shrugged "That girl is just a show off. I don't think she really cares if Miss Ibuki marries or not. She just want's to show off her work to her"

"Well you look up to Van Gogh-" Kotomi began to explain "If he were still alive surely _you_ would want to show him your work?"

"Hmm I guess-" he mumbled to himself.

They reached the house where Koukou was crouched down outside gardening.

"Hello miss Ibuki" Nagisa greeted

"Hello mahm" the others responded

"Oh hello!" Koukou exclaimed surprised as she straightened herself back up leaving her gardening tools on the ground. "What brings all of you here?"

"If you don't mind us asking we came to see whether or not you'd reconsidered your marriage to your fiance" Okazaki explained as they all glanced at each other nervously.

"Are you saying that you were worried about that and came to verify it?"

"W-well yes-" James spoke up "If you'll apologize for us asking about it since it's none of our business really"

"Oh don't you worry" she smiled "My fiance and I have already disgussed the situation"

"Is that so?" Nagisa murmured as they all gave a sigh of relief.

"Except we cant get a reservation at a wedding hall-" Koukou continued "It looks like it will be a while before we can have a ceremony. That are a lot of happy happy people in the world it seems!" she chuckled half heartedly before going onto explain that she had liked the idea of having her wedding at the school where all her dearest and most cherished memories were held with all the students and her sister congratulating her and her fiance.

They all agreed that that would be an excellent idea but unsure if it were possible and then Koukou told them all the terrible and unfortunate news.

"My sister's condition has gotten worse"

Every gave a loud gasp with Nagisa and Kotomi trying to hold back tears

"The other day the doctor told me she probably won't awaken again. But I-I still believe that Fu-chan will open her eye's someday. But I don't know if that will be next week or ten years from now. After I get married I plan to move to the next town near the hospital then I'll be able to be with her longer.

"And maybe be there when she opens those eyes."

...

The four of them all sat around a park bench with the girls crying their eyes out as the sky slowly began to fade into a darker colour.

"Okazaki do you know where this other town is?" James asked breaking the silence as the two girls continued to cry.

"You can get there by bus but why are you-" and before he could even finish what he was about to ask James hurriedly ran off.

"Hey!" Okazaki shouted as his voice echoed through the park "Where are you going?"

...

James waited patiently at the bus stop. He knew what he had to do. He had to go and see the real Fuko. He didn't know why but he felt as if he had to before it was too late.

"James!" a voice shouted alarming him as he turned his head in it's direction.

There running towards him was Kotomi. She stopped for a moment as she reached him completely out of breath with bloodshot eyes from crying.

"kotomi!" James exclaimed shocked but annoyed at the same time "Why did you follow me?"

He suddenly felt Kotomi wrap her arms around him tightly as her head sank into his chest "B-because-" Kotomi cleared her throat "Because I know what you're going to do! You're planning to see Fuko at the hospital!"

"H-how did you-"

"It was obvious!" she cried holding him tighter "And I'm going with you!"

"Kotomi-"

"We're in this together James Walker and I'm going with you weather you like it or not!" she exclaimed as her face blushed deep in red "We've been through alot you and I with helping Fuko with her starfish carvings and we've both gotten to know each other better and I-I well I-"

But before Kotomi could finish her sentence the bus pulled up and the doors opened as the previous passengers stepped out.

"L-let's get going then!" James smiled as he patted Kotomi on the head. As he walked into the bus he searched through his pocket's only to find they were empty.

"Damn no money!" James grumbled under his breath.

Sensing his frustration Kotomi hurriedly searched through her pockets bringing out a small green purse with pink dots and a gold trim. She opened it up and payed for the two of them.

"Right take a seat" The driver murmured as he gestured his hand towards the seat's.

The bus was more or less empty except for one of two people scattered around.

"Right let's sit at the back" James said as he began to walk through the seating area "I'm sitting near the window ok?"

"Y-yeah sure!" Kotomi half whispered as her face continued to blush as she took deep breaths trying to control herself.

The two sat down and the bus started at a slow pace making it's way to the next town.

"So-" James sighed as he looked outside the window watching the view "What were you saying just before the bus came?"

Still blushing heavily Kotomi brushed up the courage to grab James's hand grasping it tightly "Please look at me for a moment" she gasped in a strangled tone of voice.

James turned his head and looked at her curiously "Yeah?"

"What I was saying was-" She took a deep breath as she struggled to breath placing her free hand onto her chest "I-I-I-"

"kotomi are you-mph!"

Kotomi kissed James on the lips as the two blushed heavily. Their lips parted each other as they stopped to breath for a few seconds.

"K-kotomi!_"James gasped heavily as his eyes widened his heart pumped rapidly he clutched his chest struggling to breath from the shock of what had transpired.

"I love you James!" Kotomi whimpered as her eye's widened "And I want to be with you as-" she took a few more deep breaths as she tried to calm herself "As boyfriend and girlfriend! D-do you think that could be possible?"

James didn't know what to say. He stared at her as she desperately waited for a reply. He liked Kotomi yes but he wasn't entirely sure if he could handle being in a relationship after what has occurred in his previous school back home.

"I'll give you some time to think it through!" Kotomi said realising James was too shocked too reply just yet.

...

After roughly an hour of driving they at least reached the other town. James and Kotomi departed the bus not making eye contact with each other and neither said a word.

Heavy tension filled the air.

They stepped off of the bus and saw nearer to where they were standing was the hospital. The street's were now darkened but you could still make out the hospital with the street lights placed around the road.

"Well-" James broke the silence "There's the hospital we'd better make this quick! Mum's gonna kill me when I come home and I bet your parents won't be too happy either"

Kotomi gave a slight whimper upon the mention of her parents "Yeah" she whispered quietly as she looked up into the sky watching the stars twinkle brightly "I guess they wouldn't be."

...

The inside of the hospital was fairly busy. Pacients sat in the waiting room doctors and nurses rushed around and a woman sat at the reception desk answering phone calls as she wrote down contact details into a notepad.

The two of them walked over towards the reception desk.

"Hello there how can I help?" the receptionist gave a fake smile as she greeted them clearly just wanting to end her shift and return home.

"Um hi we're here to see a miss Fuko Ibuki-" James explained "I'm assuming visiting hours aren't over yet?"

James glanced to the clock on the wall and saw that it was now _10:45_.

"How the hell am I gonna explain this to mum?" he asked himself in his head.

"Visiting hours will be over in fifteen minutes" The receptionist replied "You'll have to make it quick. Are you of any relation to the patient?"

"Oh no no" Kotomi replied nervously "We're friends of the patient"

"I see" the receptionist murmured as she typed onto a keyboard "The patient is upstairs and is in the first room on the right"

"Thank you!" they both bowed as they headed towards a flight of stairs to find the _real_ Fuko.

 _ **To be continued.**_

 _ **Authors note: In response to a review posted on the last chapter I apologize for the lack of commas. I'm not very good with spelling and punctuation I hope that if you are reading this now you don't think I am using that as an excuse because it is the honest truth.**_


	35. Chapter 34: Memories since past

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 34: Memories since past.**_

The two friends stood hand in hand as they viewed _the real Fuko Ibuki_. The girl that they had only know from interacting with a ghost or spirit and now they felt they had come full circle in visiting the real her.

She was wired up to a life support system lying down on a bed sound asleep almost as if she wasn't even alive.

"So-" James remarked out loud "This is the real Fuko!"

"This-this is bizarre!" Kotomi remarked trying to hold back tears as they walked towards the sleeping girl.

"I know Kotomi" James grasped Fuko's hands tightly as the machine began to ring out loudly as if sensing their presence

"Fuko we may never know what exactly is the cause of all of this but I promise you right here right now that myself Kotomi and the others will make sure that everyone receives a starfish carving to attend your sister's wedding!"

"Oh James!" Kotomi broke down crying as she buried her head in his shoulder.

As the two walked out James took one last look at Fuko.

"I pray that you will recover soon Fuko"

...

The two walked out of the hospital hand in hand remaining silent until they reached the bus stop.

As James turned around to talk to Kotomi he noticed the moonlight shining upon her as if she were a beautiful angel sent down from the heavens.

"Kotomi I-" James cleared his throat as his heart pounded finding it hard to breath "I've given it a lot of thought about what you said and-"

"Yes?" Kotomi's eye's widened as she looked at him.

"And my answer is yes!" he exclaimed blushing "I feel like since the day we met I've had a crush on you and I think you're amazing!"

Kotomi have a squeal of delight as she hugged him tightly.

"Your smart intelligent and beautiful and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world!" James was now burning up as he let all his emotions and feels from the past few weeks finally pour out in bucket loads "And I would be proud to be your boyfriend!"

And under the moonlight as the stars shined upon them they kissed each other signifying that the two friends were now a couple.

...

James!" Kotomi exclaimed shaking him.

James woke up feeling tired and groggy wiping the drool from his mouth and rubbed his eye's.

"K-kotomi?" James murmured in a half asleep tone of voice "What are you doing here?"

"I can ask you the same question!" she exclaimed "We're both on a bus heading back to our town!"

James bolted upright from his slouched position and franticly looked at his surroundings.

"W-what the hell are we doing on a bus?"

"I don't know!" Kotomi exclaimed "The last thing I remember is the two of us Nagisa and Okazaki going to see Miss Ibuki!"

"Yes!-" he mumbled "That's all I remember too!"

The two pondered for a long while as they tried to figure out why they were on a bus and after a while they even forgot why that had gone to see Miss Ibuki in the first place.

"Something about her getting married or something-" James thought "But what does that have to do with us being here on this bus?"

...

The bus stopped and James and Kotomi left.

"James what time is it?" she asked looking at the night sky.

"Oh yeah!" he exclaimed as he searched his pockets bringing out his phone.

"Crap!" he shouted as his voice echoed throughout the streets "It's almost twelve at night!"

"James this whole situation makes no sence!"

" _I KNOW!_ " He shouted frightening her. He proceeded to take a deep breath to calm himself down "I'm sorry Kotomi!" he exclaimed grasping her hand "Look we'll try and figure this whole thing out tomorrow. For now I suggest we go home!"

He proceeded to take a few steps forward. "I'll walk you home" He gestured for him to follow her. "It's dangerous for a girl like you to be out here at this time of night on her own. I would hate myself if something bad were to happen to you"

Kotomi nodded in agreement "If you want to you can stay over at my place for the night" she said as her face blushed "Your flat is quite far away from my home and like you said I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you James because-" she paused for a moment glancing away from him. "Because I care about you and don't want you to get hurt."

"T-thank you Kotomi!" he gasped in awe thinking the situation through.

It'd be awkward explaining his absence when he returned home now let alone early in the morning and if his mum were to find out he'd stayed over a girl's house she might begin to (understandably) expect the worst case scenario.

A grin turned upon James's face as dirty thoughts entered his mind.

" _N-no!_ " Kotomi would exclaim " _James we-we cant do this! T-this is my first time..._ "

He suddenly slapped himself hard across the face disgusted over what his perverted thoughts had brought him.

"Gee-" he grumbled under his breath "I get the feeling that if I were to be in a relationship with this girl I'd have to be careful not to go _too far_ with anything sexual."

"Look sorry Kotomi but I think it's best if I came back to the flat after escorting you home." he laughed nervously "I think both of our parents would have something to say about me staying round yours for the night"

"Yeah" Kotomi murmured knowing that she still held her big secret away from James.

"I really wish my parents could meet you James" she thought.

...

They reached Kotomi's home and the two prepared to part ways at the door.

"Well-" James coughed nervously "I'll see you tomorrow then!" he began to laugh nervously as he looked at the door "Maybe I should try and explain this situation to your folks-"

"No!" Kotomi exclaimed causing James to jump back.

"I-I mean-" Her eyes glanced away from his direction "They're still away. They go on a lot of business trips. I don't see them too often"

"Oh" James gasped "I'm really sorry to hear that" he sighed.

"It's fine don't worry" she murmured as she opened the door stepped inside and turned her head to face him one last time with a smile. "I'll see you tomorrow at the usual place!" and with that she shut the door.

"Phew!" James sighed "At least I know she's safe!" he wiped his forehead with his sleeve as he checked the time with his other hand holding up his phone.

 _12:30AM_

"Mum's gonna be pissed!"

...

James stopped for a moment to catch his breath as he coughed violently thumping at his chest as it burned painfully.

"T-t-t-this-" he gasped before proceeding to cough violently "This is why I hate running!"

He then rubbed his legs which ached terribly and proceeded to inhale and exhale deep breaths as he tried to ignore the pain.

Glancing to his left he saw that he'd stopped by a park bench and gave a sigh of relief "I'll just sit down for a few minutes!"

He gave another sigh as he fell back expecting to hit the hard wooden texture of the bench but instead he sat on something hard and heavy.

" _AAARRG!_ " Both James and another voice cried out loud their voices echoing for miles ahead with birds flying away in fright from the sudden noise.

James attempted to run as fast as he could but slipped and fell head first onto the ground hurriedly trying to pull himself back up.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" he exclaimed in a shaken voice "P-please don't kill me!"

A black sheet fell from the bench near to James's feet and a loud yawn rang out "Is that you James?"

"Hmm?" James recognized the voice from somewhere and hurriedly brushed himself off to greet whoever was addressing him.

He turned his head to look and immediately saw sitting across the bench was Kappei.

"Oh it's you again Kappei!" he remaked feeling very surprised "Why are you sleeping in the park?"

Kappei gave a tired yawn as he straightened himself and rubbed his eye's.

"I kinda _live_ here"

James raised an eyebrow "Live here?" he gasped as he realised what he meant "Your homeless then?"

Kappei nodded "Yep!" he replied with an embarrassed smile "I'm camping out here until I can find myself a job"

"And you've still had no luck?" he replied feeling incredibly sorry for him "Gee it must get cold sleeping out here"

"Sometimes-" he shivered.

"Ok that's it!" James exclaimed forcing Kappai to stand up as he gave a worried shriek.

"W-what?!" Kappei exclaimed "Did I do something?"

"Look I know you don't really know me too well but I don't like the idea of someone I know suffering like this!" James exclaimed as he straightened his flat-cap "I'm offering you to stay over at my place until you can get yourself a job!"

Kappei smiled as he gave a loud chuckle "Thank you James! If only more people were as kind as you!"

"Heheh!" James blushed with embarrassment "I know the feeling! I just hope mum is ok with this."

...

The two reached the flat and as quietly as they could opened the door.

"Ok!" he whispered "I'll show you how the shower works and then I'll prepare you some fresh clothes for tonight and tomorrow. You ok with sleeping in my room? I'll be on the couch outside"

"Are you sure?" Kappei asked worried "Wouldn't it be better for me to take the couch?"

"No cause if my mum wakes up and see's you there first thing in the morning she might flip out and mistake you for a burglar you imbecile!"

Suddenly the door to James's mums room opened with a loud bang and Victoria stepped out. She didn't look pleased.

" _WHERE-HAVE-YOU-BEEN?!_ " She shouted loudly frightening the two boys.

"W-well-"

James tried as best he could to explain what had occurred between himself and Kotomi as ludicrous as it sounded and then proceeded to explain Kappei's situation.

Victoria gave a loud sigh as she twirled her hair "I see-" she murmured "Look I'm fine with your friend staying here for a while but James I do not believe for one second that you don't remember what happened between yourself and that Kotomi girl.

Victoria then gave a loud gasp as she grasped James's shoulders "You weren't doing drugs were you?!"

"N-no!" he exclaimed "Mum it's the honest truth I really cant remember why we were on that bus!"

Victoria gave another loud sigh proceeding to hug her son tightly "What am I gonna do with you James?"

Afterwards both James and Victoria helped Kappei settle in with Victoria assuring him that she and James would assist him in finding a job as best they could.

As James walked into his bedroom to find his spare pair of pyjamas he couldn't help but keep on pondering that he had forgotten something _very_ important.

 _ **To be continued.**_


	36. Chapter 35: Chaotic Lunch Hour

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 35: Chaotic lunch hour.**_

"So how's your friend Kappei doing?" Kotomi asked rummaging through her bag.

"Ah well he's been doing ok I guess." James remarked with a faint chuckle "He's still not been successful at finding a job. Not long after he um...moved in I guess (?) he attempted getting a job working with a moving van and that didn't work out well and now he's hoping to get a job at a nursery."

"Aww" kotomi smiled "That'd be amazing working with kids!"

"Hehe" James laughed "Personally I'd hate to work with children. I don't like them always causing trouble breaking things and just being so damn loud!"

"But James when you were a kid werent _you_ like that?" She asked raising an eyebrow as he shrugged in response "Meh I guess." he murmured "But I just cant stand the little buggers. Anyway let's get this lunch done." he smiled licking his lips.

The two had made it a regular thing to eat their lunch in the art-room which was more or less no longer in use with the exception of Sekai bursting in on occasion giving them rude comments and overall just ruining the mood of the hour.

They would all often try to remember why exactly James and Kotomi had decided to go to the art-room in the first place but neither they nor Sekai could figure out why.

" _Instead of camping out here why don't the two of you go eat somewhere else and leave me in peace!_ " Sekai would say to them whenever they brought the subject up.

Kotomi brought out a large bottle green lunch-box with a yellow top and opened it up to reveal two smaller lunch-boxes for each of them.

"I hope you're hungry!" Kotomi smiled taking the lunch box and extra pair of chopsticks passing them over to James.

 _Bzzzz_

Before James could even open up the lid his phone buzzed. Giving an annoyed sigh he rummaged through his pockets.

"Probably just a spam knowing my luck!" he grumbled under his breath as he turned on his phones screen.

 _You have one text from Kyou._

"Hmm?" James raised an eyebrow as he read the text.

 _Come outside of the art-room._

"Argh god!" James groaned "Give me a sec Kotomi I'm having to sort something out outside"

"Ok" Kotomi nodded.

Leaving his sketch-book and bag behind he walked over to the door turned the doorknob and stepped outside shutting the door behind him.

No one was there so he double checked the text.

"She definitely said come outside the art-room" he said outloud to himself.

He was about to turn back when all of a sudden his vision went pitch black.

"mph!" James gasped his word's being muffled by a fabric material over his face "I cant breath!"

"Right we've got him!" he heard a deep voice shouted.

"Right move! move! move!"

It suddenly felt to James that he was being hurridly carried across the corridors as the sound of running filled his ears.

...

Back in the art-room Kotomi heard the commotion outside and worriedly walked towards the door to check out the situation.

"James?" she murmured opening the door "Are you alright?"

She opened the door only to find that James had gone.

...

James felt himself being carefully lowered onto the ground his legs hitting the soft texture of the grass. The fabric material was removed from his face he gave a loud gasp for air as he clutched his chest fearing that soon he might suffer from a major heart attack.

He looked at his surroundings. He was sitting on a checkered red and white picnic cloth with a clear lunch-box and wooden chopsticks in front of him. He turned his head upwards and there in front of him also sporting lunch boxes were the Fujibayashi twins.

"Ok boys you can go now!" Kyou chuckled to the group behind James. He turned his head and saw a group of rugby players running off into the distance "Yes mamh!" they shouted.

James slowly turned his head back to Kyou. He felt anger building up inside him like a volcano preparing to explode.

"Kyou_" James grumbled.

"James I'm so sorry!" Ryou exclaimed in a high pitched voice "I didn't realise what sis was planning!"

Kyou gave a loud chuckle "How'd you like that James?" she snorted "A rather unique way to bring to here for lunch huh?"

"Kyou don't ever do that again you stupid girl!" he shouted slamming his hand onto the picnic cloth making the twins jump back in fright.

"Do you realise how terrifying that was?" he continued to shout "One minute I'm outside the art-room next thing I know I'm blind I cant breath I had no idea where I was being taken!" he clutched his chest breathing rapidly.

Ryou hurried over to James and hugged him tightly "I'm sorry James!"

Kyou had also began to feel like this had been a horrible idea "Look-" she began to explain "I'm sorry ok? I-it's just it's been ages since we all hung out together and you've been doing other things so I thought this was the best thing for it"

"You could have just asked me!" he grumbled trying not to cry as he pushed Ryou away.

"Look if you don't wanna join us you can just go back to the art-room" Ryou murmured rubbing his head.

"Nah it's fine I'll stick around" he sighed opening up the lunch box the twin's had prepared for him and saw that inside was sushi.

"Puhi Puhi!" Botan squeaked suddenly jumping out of nowhere taking a few pieces of sushi from James's lunch-box.

"Botan mind your manners!" Kyou scolded her pet as she scurried off into the bushes.

The three of them ate and chatted with each other enjoying each others company reminding James of the early week's at the school when he had joined when he would hang out with Ryou and Kyou most of the time.

"Hey why don't you two sit closer together?" Kyou smirked grabbing the pair of them pushing them closer making the two blush heavily.

...

"James where are you?" Kotomi exclaimed as she ran through the corridors carrying James's bag and sketch-book alongside her own stuff.

She stopped for a moment letting go of all her stuff to rest her arm's.

"Well well well!_" Two familiar voices chuckled sending a chill down her spine "It's little miss girl genius!"

Walking along the corridor were Hana and Chiaki grinning evilly as they walked towards her as she hurriedly tried to grab all her stuff and get out of there fast but before she could the two girls had already grabbed her by the arms.

"Let's take you to the bathroom!" Chiaki sniggered

"Yeah!" Hana snorted "We'll give you a little haircut after all your hair is rather long!"

"Please let me go!" she exclaimed upon deaf ears.

The two forcefully dragged Kotomi through the corridors leaving all her stuff in the corridor coming closer and closer to the door to the girls bathroom.

"Both of you stop it!" a voice familiar voice shouted at the two girls.

"Ah shut up!" Hana and Chiaki both exclaimed not looking to see whom they were talking to.

"And who-" the person grabbed Hana by the shoulder "Do you think your talking too?"

Chill's came down their spines as they realised who was confronting them.

"Sekai!" Kotomi exclaimed with a faint smile.

"Both of you let her go now!"

"B-but Sekai-"

"No buts!" she exclaimed spitting in their faces "Let her go now!"

Reluctantly the two let Kotomi go with Sekai pushing her hurriedly through the corridor "Come on Ichinose!" she then turned her head around to her friends "You two meet me in the classroom!" she growled as the two nodded with a faint gulp as Sekai disappeared turning a corner.

"Thank you Sekai! Kotomi exclaimed.

It came to a great shock when Sekai all of a sudden pushed her against the wall and grabbed her by the collar.

"Just shut up!" she scoffed as her face came closer towards Kotomi staring at each other eye to eye "I only helped you out because I owe you and James for letting me meet miss Ibuki last week that's all!" She then placed her hand gently around Kotomi's neck pushing her thumb slowly onto her throat causing her tongue to stick out slightly "Don't go thinking we're friends or anything Ok?!"

"Y-yes!" Kotomi choked.

Sekai released Kotomi as she faintly rubbed her throat.

"Now get lost before I reconsider my actions and decide to beat you up myself!"

And with that Kotomi hurriedly ran off to find her stuff with Sekai placing her hand on her chest giving a loud sigh.

...

"Look-" James spoke up as he helped pack away the lunch boxes into a basket "I promise I'll hang around with the two of you a little more often but just don't pull any more tricks like that again ok?"

"Don't worry James I won't" Kyou assured him.

"That should be a lot of fun" Ryou smiled "Just like when James started here. Maybe we could have another day out in town?"

"Well the two of us are going shopping tomorrow so maybe James you could join us? Kyou smirked.

"Maybe" James shrugged "Although Ryou didn't you say that you wanted the two of us to see a movie together some time?"

Ryou covered her blushing face with the basket as she picked it up.

"Oh?" Kyou smirked glancing at her sister "That's the first I've heard of this. Got anything to say Ryou?"

"I-I-I...um...um-I-I've got to go!" she exclaimed hurrying away with the basket.

"Gee she got a little worked up there eh?" James chuckled nervously.

"It's obvious why isn't it?" Kyou chuckled.

"Not really?" James replied.

"Well I'll let you figure this one out!" she laughed covering her mouth with her hand.

"Well-" James turned his head to look at kyou "Anyway how have you been lately with your situation?"

"Oh!" Kyou gasped glancing around making sure they weren't being watched "Well-" she chuckled nervously as she began to play with her hair "I've been ok I guess. I've not spoken to Tomoyo and I've also not told Ryou yet either but what you said to me before really helped me out and I'm grateful to have a friend like you"

James gently placed his hand on Kyou's shoulder "Don't worry Kyou I'll help you out in anyway I can ok?"

"You know I really wish more guys were like you James" she blushed a light red "You always know how to help people out"

"I guess" James shrugged.

"Just be careful with your willingness to help people ok?" she patted him on the head "I sometimes worry that someone could take advantage of your kindness if given the opportunity"

James glanced away from Kyou giving a faint sigh before turning around " _I already have_ " he mumbled under his breath as he walked off.

 _ **To be continued.**_


	37. Chapter 36: The day of the wedding

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 36: The day of the wedding.**_

James sat upon his seat in the now empty classroom waiting for Kotomi to return his stuff that he had left behind in the art-room. Whilst he did this he looked on curiously at the grounds outside at some kind of painted words spread out across the concrete.

"Here are your things James!" Kotomi gasped as she rushed into the classroom.

"Aww thanks!" he smiled as he hurriedly stood up from his chair and walked towards his friend "You're a lifesaver Kotomi!" and he hugged her tightly making her blush a very dark red.

" _I get the feeling like I wanna tell her I really like her_ " he thought as his heart pounded painfully " _But I-I could never do that! We're just friends after all._ "

"Y-you can let go now James" Kotomi replied in a shaky voice.

"Oh sorry about that" James released Kotomi and walked back towards the window "Come over here for a sec." he gestured for her to follow him "There's something I want you to see"

Kotomi clutched her chest hard as her heart pounded " _I wanna tell him that I like him but I just cant!_ " she thought " _There's no way he'd accept me of all people!_ "

"Kotomi?" James raised an eyebrow as he watched her still standing in the same position.

"Oh yeah yeah!" she laughed nervously hurrying to join him "Sorry about that I just-I don't know"

" _God damn it she's so cute!_ " James thought trying to control himself as he crossed his legs.

"So what did you want to show me?" She asked.

James pointed outside "Look over there" Kotomi moved closer to the window and looked "Oh I see" she gasped in awe "There appears to be some sort of writing on the floor,"

"Any idea what is says?" he asked "I still cant read Japanese writing that well."

Kotomi looked hard as she tried to figure out what had been written across the grounds "Um-it look's like it says _wedding_?" she replied.

"Wedding?" James raised an eyebrow "Someone's getting married?"

"It appears so" she murmured. "I wonder who it is?"

James hurriedly collected his things and headed for the door. "Come on let's head outside and look. If we don't hurry the school gates will be shut soon and we'll be locked in overnight!"

"Good idea!" Kotomi exclaimed rushing to follow him out the door.

...

" _Congratulations on your wedding day_ " the writing said as it lay spread out in a straight line across the concrete.

"So someone _is_ getting married!" Kotomi gasped.

"Yes that would appear to be the case Dr. Watson!" James sighed "But who is getting married?"

"A teacher perhaps?" Kotomi guessed.

"But who I mean surely if a teacher here was getting married then we'd have known about it!" James pondered rubbing his chin in thought.

A bulb went up in Kotomi's head as she figured out a possible answer "I think I've got it!" she exclaimed.

"Well don't leave me in suspense!" James replied clicking his fingers.

"Earlier today Sekai saved me from Hana and Chiaki-" She started to explain "You know them right?"

"I know of them but never met them" James replied "Now continue."

( _Note for readers James is referring to Hana and Chiaki not Sekai_ )

"Well after saving me Sekai said she was only doing it because she felt us she owed us a favor after letting her meet miss Ibuki last week"

"Miss Ibuki?" James raised an eyebrow "I know there was an art-teacher called Miss Ibuki that quit three years ago and I'm certain I heard she came here during the founder's festival last week but we never met her. Or did we?"

"I-I don't think-"

They looked at the words and within an instant everything came flooding back. Fuko the wedding making all the starfish carvings. It all came back as if it were only yesterday.

"I-i remember!" James stuttered "We were helping her sister Fuko carve stars for the wedding!"

"And when we came to visit her actual self at the hospital it somehow caused us to forget it like it all never happened!" Kotomi gasped horrified.

The two then glanced in each other's direction blushing heavily.

"A-and-" Kotomi stuttered slowly bringing her hand closer to James's grasping it "And we confessed our feelings for each other!"

"How the hell did we forget that?" James mumbled to himself as his cheeks felt as if they were on fire "Kotomi-" James turned his head to her "Don't take this the wrong way but-but right now there are far more important things at stake than just you and me."

"I agree" Kotomi nodded.

"Once the wedding is over and done with we'll begin our relationship as a couple." he began to play with his collar suddenly feeling a tightness in his throat "For now we need to help Fuko for as long as we can."

"But what if we forget all over again?" Kotomi sniffled as her eyes began to flood with tears "Not just us but Fuko as well?"

"As horrible as it sounds-" James sighed as he placed his hand's onto Kotomi's cheek's wiping the tears away with his fingers "We won't be worrying about it because we'll have completely forgotten"

"Yeah" Kotomi choked as more tears began to trickle down her face "I guess you're right."

"Now don't cry Kotomi" he whispered to her "It'll be alright"

He moved his face closer towards her and kissed her.

"You'll see"

...

The two walked down the path through the cherry blossom tree's without saying a word to each other. They both just stared at the orangy yellow sky as pink petals fell upon the ground from the tree's above.

"Hey you guys!" A familiar voice cried out alerting both of them to look back down the hill. There walking upwards towards the school were Okazaki Fuko and Nagisa.

"Fuko!" they both exclaimed running towards them.

"You both finally remembered!" Fuko exclaimed jumping up in joy.

"We did!" James chuckled "And I am so sorry that we ever forgot you Fuko!"

"Believe it or not the same thing happened to the two of us today too" Okazaki said as he watched Fuko.

"So that's why you seemed so spaced out in class today eh?" James replied "It's surreal isnt it? Forgetting someone or something just like that as if it were all a dream."

"It's like something out of a science fiction program" Kotomi spoke up.

"I agree" Nagisa nodded.

"So when is the wedding?" James asked trying to return to the matter at hand.

" _Tomorrow!_ " the three of them replied all at once.

"I see!" James nodded.

"Guy's even if no one else remembers the two of us will attend the wedding no matter what."

"Thank you Kotomi-Chan!" Fuko smiled.

"We're having a sort of pre-wedding celebration in the drama club room if you'd like to join us? Nagisa asked.

The two thought long and hard but declined the offer.

"No thanks sorry." James shook his head "My mum's gonna kill me if I'm gone overnight." he then turned his head to Kotomi who remained silent.

"I guess your parents are cautious of you staying out late too?" he asked not noticing the anxiety building up inside her.

"Yeah" Kotomi whimpered "They're still away on a trip but someone has to watch the house" she began to shiver as if she were desperately trying not to cry.

They all looked at her deeply concerned.

"Are you alright Kotomi?" Nagisa asked.

"Yes I'm fine!" Kotomi smiled in a not so convincing way suddenly grabbing James's arm and rushing him down the hill alongside her.

"We'll see you both tomorrow!" her voice became faint as she came further and further down the hill as the three drama-club buddies looked on.

"Well that was weird" Okazaki murmured.

"I think it's a shame that they couldn't join us." Nagisa mumbled in a sad tone.

"It's fine" Fuko chuckled as she started to skip along towards the school "I'm just glad that they were able to remember my big sister's wedding in time!"

...

The next day the wedding finally took place and was a complete success! The grounds were filled with people cheering and congratulating the happy couple as Koukou and her husband Yusuke Yoshino walked through the crowd.

"I'm so glad everyone remembered in time!" Kotomi cheered.

"Yes! James chuckled as he watched the celebration's.

Everyone James knew was there. The Fujibayashi twins, Tomoyo, Yukine, Sunohara, Akio, Sanea even Sekai alongside Hana and Chiaki.

" _Aww do we have to be here?_ " Hana whined as Seka held her two friends by the back of the collars on their school uniforms.

" _Both of you shut up!_ " she whispered with a growl " _Be grateful that my idol is getting married!_ "

"It must be lovely getting married to someone that you love and care for that much" Kotomi sniffled wiping a tear from her eye.

"Yeah" James sighed suddenly feeling a light tap on his shoulder and quickly turned around.

"Oh Kappei!" James exclaimed genuinely surprised "What are you doing here?"

Kappei laughed "Your mum invited me! She's over there" he then pointed towards James's mum. Victoria stood around chatting to the Fujibayashi twins mother Chiyo.

"Look that fight was all _my_ fault!" Victoria chuckled "And I apologize"

"No no Victoria _I'm_ the one to blame!" Chiyo replied laughing "The fight was all my fault!"

James couldn't help but smirk as he watched the two mothers finally getting along hoping it would last.

"Well-" Kappei patted James on the shoulder as he walked off "I'm going to talk with Miss Fujibayashi!"

"Ok have fun!" he waved as his friend disappeared into the crowd.

Kotomi kissed James on the cheek causing him to blush deep red "I'm glad that I could help you out with everything James." she smiled.

"No no _Fuko_ is the one you should thank!" he replied patting her on the head "Where is she anyway? I have something for her." he asked as he showed Kotomi the customised starfish carving that he'd produced weeks earlier "I thought she might like this for herself.

"I don't know" Kotomi replied as she turned and looked around.

James spotted Okazaki and Nagisa and hurried over towards them.

"Hey guy's!" James smiled.

"Hey" they both replied "The wedding sure is great!" Nagisa smiled "We sure worked hard!"

"Yep!" James nodded "Have either of you seen Fuko?"

The two looked around but Fuko was nowhere in sight.

"We'll look around!" Nagisa exclaimed.

"Don't worry she's around here somewhere!" Okazaki tried to assure them as they started to search.

But Fuko was nowhere to be found. They couldn't find her where ever they looked. Perhaps Fuko had finally disappeared knowing that her mission to invite the entire school to her sister's wedding was finally over.

...

A week had past since the wedding. Thing's had died down around the school but the wedding and Miss Ibuki's sister were both very much in everyone's thoughts and they all hoped that one day Fuko would awaken from her coma and return to the school.

Victoria had spoken with Kouko Ibuki who was now _Koukou Yoshino_ during the celebrations and the two had arranged for James to be given private art lessons from her (much to the annoyance and jealousy of Sekai when he broke the news) and within the next few weeks James's would walk down to her house once a week for his private sessions with Koukou insisting that he bring examples of his work to show her.

"So you're looking foreward to it eh?" Kappei asked James as he helped clean the kitchen at the flat.

"Of course I am!" James chuckled as he scrubbed the windows "I mean I'm getting help from a former art teacher after all. Just think in a few year's I may have developed my craft enough to actually sell some work to people!"

"When they make a program about your life at least I can say hey I lived with the famous artist James walker for bit!"

"Hehe" James chuckled nervously "You might wanna rephrase how you would say that though!"

The door to Victoria's bedroom slowly creaked open. She stepped outside wiping her eyes with a tissue as she walked into the kitchen immediately concerning the two boys.

"Are you ok Mrs Walker?" Kappei asked worriedly.

Victoria blew her nose with the tissue "No no I'm fine Kappei-" she placed her hand onto her chest "James I have bad news."

James felt his stomach tingle with anxiety as he started to fear the worse "W-what's happened mum?" James stuttered feeling a lump in his throat "Has something happened with dad back home?"

"Nothing to do with your father dear" she wiped her eyes as fresh tears began to trickle down her face "I've just been speaking to Koukou on the phone" she whaled as more tears began to pour.

"Well what's happened?" James asked frustrated that it was taking a while to get to the main point of the conversation.

"You wont be able to have any private sessions for a few more weeks." she blew her nose again.

"W-well that's really nothing to cry about mum-"

"That's not why I'm upset" she took deep breath's trying to calm herself down "You know that Koukou has a sister yes?"

"Yes I believe she's at the hospital in a coma." James nodded.

"W-well-" Victoria wiped her eye's "Koukou has just informed me that her sister _passed away_ during the night."

James gasped out loud instantly putting his hand over his face he felt a horrible chill run down his spine his stomach feeling cold and empty "Oh my god! Poor Koukou!"

Kappei suddenly burst into tears hugging James tightly and burying his head in his chest.

...

That night the three of them went to bed deeply upset.

"That poor girl!" James sniffled and cleared his throat "I may have never met her but even still no one deserves to die." He sighed as he looked at his reflection in the window "Koukou never even got to say goodbye to her sister."

As James changed into his pyjamas he suddenly noticed on the windowsill a wooden star carving painting in various bright colours. The paint work appeared to be his own but he couldn't remember painting such a thing let alone carving a wooden star.

After all he'd never been very good at carving.

He then noticed a tiny piece of paper hidden under the carving. He moved the carving and looked upon the note.

" _Thank you for everything!_ " the note read in handwriting James had never seen before in his life.

"B-but where?" he mumbled as his attention was drawn instantly to the window. Outside there appeared to be a tiny orb of light floating in mid air before drifting away.

Perhaps it was a trick of the light perhaps it wasn't James would never be certain.

...

As he slept during the night he had a strange dream.

He could see the school corridors and the dream was clearly from his perspective. A faint running sound became louder and louder when suddenly a short green haired girl wearing a birthday party hat stopped in front of him holding the same customised star carving that he had found on the windowsill and passed it over to him.

" _Thank's for everything James!_ " the girl smiled " _Goodbye!_ "

And then the dream ended as everything faded to white.

A tear ran down his face as he slept.

 _ **To be continued**_

 _ **Author's Note: Well that's the end of the Fuko arc and it's a little different (or should I say very) from how it ended in the anime.**_

 _ **Starting with the next chapter the Kotomi arc will finally begin. After just over a year of writing I am finally writing the real meat and potatoes of this story and I hope you are all looking forward to it.**_

 _ **See you all next time!**_


	38. Chapter 37: The first step

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 37: The first step.**_

Victoria awoke late in the morning feeling terribly unwell. The room felt stuffy and uncomfortable even without the heating on or the thick purple bed-covers and there was not a window inside to let any cool air in. She found it hard to breath the left end of her head pounded constantly like a drum-beat her nose felt clogged up and as she tried to get up out of bed and walk towards the exit she felt tired and dizzy struggling to stay balanced as her body almost fell to the floor her legs feeling weak and her eyelids heaving as she almost fell back to sleep.

She opened the door and gave a sigh of relief as a small amount of cold air flew past her. As she shut the door behind her she heard the familiar voices of her son James and his friend ( _also temporary house guest!_ ) Kappei Hiiragi.

"Morning mum!" James shouted throughout the hallway as usual and Kappei replied with his usual greeting of "Good morning Mrs. Walker!"

"Morning boy's!" Victoria gave a loud yawn as she stretched out her arms proceeding to walk to the front door to see off her son on his way to school.

James was dressed in the _Hikarizaka private school_ uniform as he always was monday's to saturday's along with his grey bag large red sketch-pad and grey flat-cap with black stripes which didn't go with the uniform at all whilst Kappei was dressed in a yellow shirt and blue jeans that James had allowed him to borrow.

The two boy's immediately turned their attention to Victoria as soon as they saw her walking closer towards them.

"I'll prepare you a breakfast at once Mrs. Walker!" Kappei bowed his head and immediately ran towards the kitchen "Would you like porridge or shredded wheat?"

"I'll have porridge please Kappei"" Victoria answered sleepishly as she straightened up her pink dressing-gown. She glanced to her left and saw a glimpse of herself in the small mirror placed on the wall.

Her hair was all over the place sticking out in various places her glasses looked worn out her eye's looked faintly bloodshot and her skin looked almost white with her lips slightly swollen.

Victoria placed her hand onto her chest giving a faint cough and covering her mouth with her other hand before placing it onto James's left shoulder.

"James-" She looked at her son trying not to smile at her now almost grown up son. Within a few years he'd be twenty years old hopefully living in his own place perhaps with a girlfriend or wife. But right now she knew she needed to stop day-dreaming and to focus on the present and most importantly her own health.

She knew deep down that if her own suspicions were true she was seriously ill and if that were the case thing's would need to be arranged regarding her son's future. But she couldn't tell him about any of this just yet. She didn't want to worry him and she knew that James knew that something was seriously wrong.

Even now he tried to hide his worry by putting on a curious face.

"James I would like to to pop down to the clinic on the way to school to collect some medicine for me." Victoria explained "Just give me a moment to write down what I require."

"But mum-" James cleared his throat "I'm just about to head off to school. Kappei will have to do it I'm afraid."

"Very well." She mumbled under her breath giving a tired sigh as she searched the phone table's draw and picked out a small note-pad and pen from it's contents and started to carefully write down what medication she would require.

"I'm also heading off to the hospital this afternoon so I may not be here when you return home from school." Victoria said as she continued to write, her hand beginning to hurt from the quick pace of her writing.

James felt a cold feeling in his stomach and his heart begin to pound as Victoria's words repeated in his mind.

"Mum-" James cleared his throat nervously trying to remain calm and not panic as he placed his hand onto his mother's back "What do you need to go to the hospital for?"

Victoria cleared her throat loudly "Hadnt you'd better be off to school now James?"

"But mum-"

End of discussion James!" She exclaimed causing him to jump back slightly in fright.

Without another word to each other James turned around unlocked the door and left the flat leaving just Victoria and Kappei.

"I didn't mean to shout at you James-" Victoria mumbled to herself "I just don't want to worry you my precious boy..."

...

The air felt humid and the sun shined brightly as James walked up the busy hill through cherry blossom tree's towards _Hikarizaka private school_ the beautiful cherry tree's appeared to sparkle in the sunlight and everyone gazed at their amazing beauty.

At least a couple months had passed since he'd joined the school and it'd been a wild ride especially when it came to making friends but through it all James had survived in one piece or another.

As he reminisced about the past few months his vision of all a sudden became a faint black with small lines of light shining through. He gave a faint shriek as he was dragged behind and all of a sudden felt _something soft and squishy_ hit his back.

"James guess who!" A voice that was very familiar to James exclaimed joyfully.

He knew that voice very well. It was none other than his girlfriend _Kotomi Ichinose_. The two had been dating for just over a week now despite the fact that neither one could remember exactly when the other confessed their feelings towards each other.

Their time together mainly consisted of the occasional kiss on the cheek or lips and if the two were really in the right mood alongside the occasional " _I love you_ " but aside from that the two acted mainly platonic around each other hiding the fact to the naked eye that these two were in fact a young couple happily and deeply in love and passionate about each other but in case their relationship for whatever reason abruptly ended they had decided that for now at least they'd keep their relationship a secret under lock and key.

"K-kotomi!" James choked as he felt what he assumed were her breasts pressed against his back. He felt his chest tighten and his heart pound rapidly like a drum-beat with his lower area starting to feeling tingly and as best he could he hurriedly and uncomfortable tried to cross his legs.

"Kotomi this is making me severely uncomfortable!" he shrieked as his cheeks felt as if they were burning fire as they blushed. "I-I can feel your damn boob's pressed against my back!"

Kotomi gave a faint gasp and removed her hand and chest away from James covering her chest with her hands as her face blushed with embarrassment.

"S-sorry!" Kotomi whimpered as she looked at the ground not daring to look upon her boyfriend in the face.

"Come on you let's keep walking!" he gestured for her to follow him up the hill as he noticed a couple students staring suspiciously at the couple's actions.

...

The two walked up the hill without another word until James grasped Kotomi's shoulder unexpectedly causing her to gasp in fright with this unexpected gesture.

"Kotomi what were you thinking?" he sighed wiping his forehead with his sleeve with his free arm. "We both want this relationship to be kept a secret right? Because what you did just there pretty much said to everyone watching " _Hey amature artist James Walker and girl genious Kotomi Ichinose are officially a couple!_ " I mean come on!"

"I-" Kotomi kept her eyeline to the ground feeling ashamed and embarrassed "I'm sorry James." she whimpered "I just thought I'd surprise you that's all."

She felt James let go on her shoulder and instantly closed her eye's expecting to feel hard blows to her entire body. She had read that abusive relationships were a common occurrence throughout the world and expected her relationship to be just the same as what she had read about in her books but to her complete surprise he felt a pat on the head and heard James's laughter. "You're a good girl Kotomi." he chuckled.

"S-so-" she turned her head to face him "You're not going to _hit_ me?"

James jumped back slightly in complete and utter shock " _Hit you?_ " he gasped flabbergasted "Kotomi I could never hit you! Your a delightful and sweet innocent cheerful girl and I could never harm someone as precious as you."

Kotomi covered her cheeks with her hand's as she felt them burning brightly "Thank you!" she muffled resisting to urge to cry tears of joy.

"This-" James cleared his throat as they came nearer to the school building "This is going to sound a little sudden and maybe random but do you have a mobile phone?"

"A mobile phone?" Kotomi raised an eyebrow.

"Um well-" James played with his fingers nervously as his heart began to skip a beat "We only really see each other at school so I thought maybe on weekends and after school we could talk over the phone? It's just I...well I-I like the sound of your voice."

Kotomi chuckled covering her mouth as her face blushed again and her heart pounded "That's very sweet of you James but I don't have a mobile phone. I've just never had the need for one you know?"

"I guess-" James shrugged with a hint of disappointment in his voice "But what if your in a spot of trouble and need to notify your parents or something along those lines?"

Kotomi only answered with a faint whimper looking clearly uncomfortable with the current conversation and walked towards the entrance to the school without another word.

"Kotomi?" James asked as he began to follow her.

Suddenly she turned her head, her eye's looking slightly watery "I'll meet you in the art-room later ok?" She said and hurried off into the crowded building without another word.

...

James sat inside his classroom slightly hunched over at his desk as he inked his drawing of the grounds outside that he had produced month's earlier. The sun shined in James eyeline and he struggled to concentrate and ink the pencil lines properly as the sunlight distracted his concentration causing the ink to go slightly out of line or to blotch in small dot's down the lines.

It was times like this when he wished he owned a pair of sunglasses. As a matter of fact he was certain he had an old pair lying around back at the flat somewhere...

Okazaki walked into the classroom and immediately eyed James busy at work. A small number of students watched as he walked towards his seat. He pulled up his chair with a faint scraping sound of metal against flooring and sat behind James and tapped his shoulder.

"James" He murmured making him jump and ruining his line-work.

"Aww damn it!" James grumbled putting away his pen and snapping his sketch-pad shut with a loud bang and turned his head to face Okazaki with a frown "What do you want this time boy?"

" _Boy?_ " Okazaki raised an eyebrow "Don't call me that!"

"S-sorry!" James grinned "Force of habit from my old school anyway what's up? Is this about the drama-club again?"

"Actually yes!" Okazaki began to explain "We're still recruiting members. Counting you and Nagisa that's two and we checked with _Tomoyo_ _Kyou_ and _Fujibayashi_ and none were interested."

"Right" James nodded and gestured his hand "Continue"

"Well I was wondering if you know someone who might be interesting in joining the drama-club?"

"Hmm" James placed his hand onto his chin and thought hard.

Sekai would most likely have no interest in drama and just visit to upset everyone else and he didn't want that. Putting up with her attitude in the art-room had been bad enough let alone in the drama-club.

That left only Kotomi as a possible candidate.

James cleared his throat "I have this friend-" he started to explain "Her name's Kotomi Ichinose. She's a little shy and timid but I think with some persuasion she could join the drama-club!"

Okazaki gave James a look of complete surprise and utter shock "You mean Kotomi Ichinose the girl genius right?"

James nodded "Yes of course! So you know her?"

"Sort of" he shrugged "We're pretty much acquaintances. No offence but it's difficult to start a conversation with her."

"Well once you get to know her she really begins to open up." James chuckled "I guess I just know what makes her tick."

"Don't worry Okazaki I'll ask her to come to the drama-club room during first break. Just make sure that yourself and Nagisa are there to join us ok?"

...

"What-are-you-doing?" Sekai scoffed to Kotomi in a patronizing tone of voice as she watched her over her shoulder hunched over on the table.

"I'm trying to draw Sekai" She murmured quietly "I felt it was time I showed James what I can do."

Sekai snatched the paper away from Kotomi much to her annoyance. She tilted her glasses and examined the drawing.

"Well?" Kotomi muttered nervously.

Sekai gave a snort of laughter "You really are no artist Ichinose!" she laughed "I mean look at this it's pathetic!" she moved the drawing into her direction.

The drawing Kotomi had been making was of a house next to a windmill.

"The house is completely the wrong shape the window's are too big and the windmill is totally out of proportion!"

Kotomi whimpered trying not to cry "Well at least I gave it a try Sekai!"

Sekai ran her hand down her face giving a loud sigh. She put her hand onto Kotomi's shoulder passed her back the drawing and smiled "Next time try using a reference picture!" she chuckled under her breath "I know using your imagination's a good idea however if you're trying to improve your craft it's best to have something to work with first."

Kotomi stared at Sekai opened mouthed genuinely shocked and surprised "T-thank's for the advice Sekai!"

She suddenly felt herself being pulled forward as Sekai grabbed her hard by the collar "Just don't tell anyone that I gave you advice! Even if you were to tell James the idea of me helping you is embarrassing and degrading!" Sekai proceeded to wipe her forehead and sigh. "Just do your best ok?"

Kotomi smiled with delight "I'll do my best! Oh do you think I should show this drawing to James?"

"Meh!" Sekai bit her lower lip "Do whatever you want I don't really care."

Kotomi looked upon her work with a sigh of sadness "Well I don't want him to think I'm a bad drawer" she proceeded to fold the drawing up and place it into the front pocket of her uniform.

"Speaking of old flat-cap boy-" Sekai chuckled "Where is he?"

"He should be on his way now." Kotomi replied.

Like a scene out of beetlejuice the door flung open and James rushed inside grabbing Kotomi by the arm "Kotomi there's something I need you to do!"

"What?" Kotomi raised an eyebrow.

James explained about the drama-club situation and it's need for more members.

Kotomi's eye's widened in fear as she began to whimper "The club leader won't bully me will she?"

"No no no!" James patted her on the head "Nagisa is the last person I'd expect to bully someone." He moved his mouth close to Kotomi's ear and lightly gestured his hand in Sekai's direction "Unlike little miss stuck-up artist over there!"

"I heard that!" Sekai shouted alarming the two "Both of you just get lost now before I put my hand's around your neck's and squeeze!"

And without another word the two hurriedly left the room leaving Sekai alone.

She put her hand onto her chest gave a faint sigh and walked towards the window gazing at the bright blue sky.

"So the drama-club might be coming back eh?" she said to herself outloud "I wonder if James would allow me to join?"

...

Okazaki and Nagisa were waiting patiently for James to arrive with Kotomi when the door all of a sudden flung open and James stepped inside with Kotomi hiding behind his back.

"Hey guy's!" James gestured with a wave "This is my friend Kotomi and I think she'd make a great addition to the drama-club" after saying his piece he turned around and pushed Kotomi forward and whispered into her ear "Come say hello! I promise they won't hurt you."

Kotomi glared at the two whilst trying to remain calm and collected. "H-hello" she mumbled as she bowed her head.

"Hi there." Nagisa smiled.

"Hey Kotomi" Okazaki murmured.

"Nagisa" James called out to her "Isn't there anything you want to say to Kotomi?"

"Ummm" Nagisa placed the tip of her finger onto her lip in thought.

"Go and ask her if she'd like to join the drama-club!" Okazaki whispered into her ear.

"I won't have to shed any tears will I?" Kotomi whimpered.

"I think if the role call's for it you might have to shed a few tears." Nagisa explained.

Kotomi glanced towards the direction of the floor "But I really don't want to cry!" she whimpered.

"Either way if you have to cry then you're gonna cry." Nagisa replied.

"So tell me are you a bully?"

"Oh god!" James facepalmed himself in annoyance.

Nagisa gave a faint gasp as her eye's widened "No not me! I'm not a bully at all!"

Silence filled the room for a few moments until Kotomi noticed something in the room and walked towards it.

"What's she looking at?" James thought.

Kotomi walked over to the corner of the room and picked up Nagisa's drama-club poster which was filled with several drawings of Dango's.

"It's the big dango family!" Kotomi smiled.

Nagisa smiled "You like them?"

Kotomi nodded "Very much!"

As the two girls started to chat away James whispered something to Okazaki.

"I'm glad she's getting along with Nagisa" James said.

"Yeah it's honestly a lot of work trying to make a conversation with her." Okazaki replied.

"I know and people really have the wrong impression of her." James explained "I tried to get her to attend classes more because her classmates think that because she keeps to herself most of the time she's anti-social when really she's a very sweet girl!"

"And how did that turn out?" Okazaki with interest.

James shook his head "Not very well I'm afraid. There's these three girls in her classroom that bully her and she almost had a breakdown because of it." James gave a sigh as he remembered when he had found her crying her eye's out in the art-room "I really wish more people could get to know her. Perhaps then the stuff about her being anti-social would go away."

"I agree" Okazaki nodded "I've always found her difficult to talk too but once you get to know her she really begins to open up."

Okazaki then smiled as an idea popped into his head.

"I think I have an idea on how we can change people's opinions of her!"

...

Evening came and as they left the school James Kotomi Okazaki and Nagisa all chatted away as the walked down the hill through the cherry blossom tree's and to the road that cut off to the school's exit.

"Kotomi do you want me to walk you home?" Okazaki asked.

Kotomi pondered for a moment in thought "That's very kind of you Okazaki-" She bowed her head "But I would like James to walk me home if that's ok?"

James placed both his hand's over his face pretending to cough in order to hide his blushing cheek's.

"Yeah course it is!" Okazaki replied "We'll see you both tomorrow then."

"Bye guys!" James waved as they watched Okazaki and Nagisa walk away into the distance.

James sighed and gestured his hand forward "After you Miss. Ichinose." James chuckled.

Kotomi blushed and smiled as she started to walk. The two didn't say a word for several minutes until James cleared his throat.

"So how do you think today went?" James asked proceeding to unbutton his collar.

"I have to say I was a little scared today" Kotomi replied "I have a tendency to be like that when I talk to someone that I just met for the first time but Nagisa was a very kind person."

James chuckled and patted Kotomi on the head "Your a brave girl kotomi and I'm proud of you!" He turned his head looking to see if no one was around and proceeded to kiss her on the cheek.

Kotomi gave a faint gasp as her face blushed a light red she started to breath slightly louder and clutched her chest "James!" she shriek "What if someone see's us?"

James couldn't help but burst out into complete laughter.

...

"How long do we need to keep our relationship secret?" Kotomi asked unlocking the door to her house.

"At least until we know we feel the same." He replied.

"But James-" Kotomi turned herself around and grabbed his shoulders "I love you!"

"I-I know!" He blushed as a tight feeling entered his throat. "It's just the last time I went out with a girl she was just using me and-"

Kotomi took a step back "Are you saying that you think _I_ might be using you?"

"No no no that's not what I'm saying at all!" He shook his arm's around before taking a few deep breath's to calm himself down. "What I meant was the last time I dated a girl I told my mum about it and she got really excited at the prospect of me finally having a girlfriend and wanted to meet her. It was so embarrassing when she broke up with me a week later and a few months afterwards I figured out she was just using me for attention."

Kotomi proceeded to wrap her arm's around James's waist and pull him closer towards her. He began to feel slightly excited in his lower area as her breasts pressed up against his chest and he wrapped his arm's around her back.

"I'm nothing like that last girl you dated James" she whispered in his ear "You should know that. You're my boyfriend and I'm always going to love you."

"I love you too." He whispered as the two separated.

"One day-" Kotomi cleared her throat "Can you explain to me everything that happened in your last school with this girl? If that's ok with you?"

James felt an uncomfortable tingle in his stomach at the thought of explaining the still recent memories that haunted his mind "M-maybe!" James cleared his throat "One time when I went into town with Ryou she asked me the same thing. I tried to explain and almost broke down."

"I understand" Kotomi nodded.

James was about to turn around and leave when he turned back to face Kotomi.

Without another word he grabbed Kotomi's shoulders hard and pushed her against the still unlocked door. The back of her head hit the door hard making a loud bang. They tilted their heads as their lips came closer into contact and kissed passionately.

Both felt their cheeks blush deep in red as blood flowed through them their heart's pounded and their lungs felt as if they were about to burst. Neither dared take a breather they didn't want to separate from each other and end their passionate action.

After at least half a minute Kotomi began to realize that she couldnt breath and pushed James away. The two gasped and wheezed heavily feeling each other's breath hit their face's.

"J-James-" She clutched her heaving chest. She had no breath left to answer as her chest burned and she leaned onto the door feeling light-headed from the lack of air.

James stumbled backwards and hurriedly grabbed the wall with both hand's trying not to look like a fool doing so. "I-I couldn't help it!" he coughed and wheezed in between breath's "I just love you so much and we cant do this at school!"

"Yeah-" Kotomi mumbled with a smile still red in the face as she breathed heavily. "I just hope in a few week's or day's maybe you could tell your mother about _us_ at least?"

James nodded and smiled "I'll bring you home sometime and tell her."

Kotomi nodded and smiled "See you tomorrow then." she chuckled unlocking the door and stepped inside her home shutting the door behind her.

James listened to Kotomi lock the door from the inside as he gazed at the orangy yellow sky "Time to head off home then." He sighed still feeling out of breath and light headed.

...

James arrived at his flat very exhausted. He knocked onto the door and stepped inside. As he took a few steps into the hallway he collided with Kappei who was running to answer the door.

The two were left in a crumpled heap on the floor.

"Argh Kappei!" James groaned "You imbecile!"

"It's your fault James!" Kappei whined "You shouldnt have to knock on the door to your own home."

"Well-" he explained as he tried to get back onto his feat "I like for mum to know I'm home." He proceeded to help Kappei up and looked around the room.

"Where's mum?" he asked.

Kappei gave a worried sigh "She came back from the hospital a few hours ago crying." He explained "She's been in her bedroom all the time. I thought to perhaps make her some tea or bring her something to eat but it didn't seem like a good idea."

"I see." James sighed feeling his anxieties beginning to rumble "She'll come out when she's ready."

As the two boys walked into the front room James glared at the door to his mum's bedroom.

"I hope your ok mum."

 _ **To be continued.**_

 _ **Author's Note: Well that's the first chapter of the Kotomi arc done! I'd like to know what you all thought of it. I tried to be more detailed with the description. Especially the kissing scenes. I've never kissed a girl so I'm just hope you all thought those scenes were good and not too detailed to the point it sounds jarring/creepy. Let me know what you thought of them and this chapter too and what sort of event's your hoping too see in the following chapters.**_

 _ **Shoutout to Darkspecter141 (hope I've spelt your username right!) for helping me discuss idea's for this and the next few chapters.**_


	39. Chapter 38: Making Friends

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 38: Making friends.**_

James awoke earlier than usual and stretched his arm's and legs trying not to pull any muscles which he had found to be a painful experience in the past. He pulled away the bedcovers and prepared a fresh pair of underpants a flannel and a towel for a quick shower and would make the bed after he was washed and dressed.

He stepped outside into the hallway and walked towards the bathroom door. As he walked past the corridor he spotted his mother in the living room sitting on the sofa silently in her pink dressing-gown.

"Morning mum!" James greeted to Victoria as he entered into the front room.

"Morning luv" she mumbled under her breath in a tired tone of voice. James looked at his mother immediately noticing that she looked unwell again. Her skin seemed paler than it had been the previous day her eyes were bloodshot presumably from lack of sleep and her hair was a complete mess.

"Are you ok mum?" He asked deeply concerned for his mother's health.

"Fine luv." she mumbled in response.

"I'll make you a cup of tea." James murmured and headed for the kitchen placing his underpants flannel and towel onto the end of the sofa.

He could hear Kappei inside the kitchen busy at work making something and as he entered the room he saw that he looked deeply concerned.

"Morning Kappei." James greeted.

Kappei turned to James whilst mixing together some porridge and looked at him with worry "Morning James." he nodded.

"How long's mum been up?" He whispered shutting the door so Victoria couldnt hear them.

"She woke up at about three o'clock." Kappei explained "She's just been sitting there all the time and occasionally bursting into tears. I was thinking of asking her what's up but feel it's not the right time."

"Your right Kappei." James sighed running his fingers through his hair "I'm sure mum will tell us when she's ready. For now we just need to make sure she is looked after."

The two shook hand's in agreement that they would look after Victoria and wait patiently until they found out what the cause of her troubles were.

But both understandably couldn't help but notice that all this started after the trip to the hospital yesterday afternoon. What had transpired at the hospital they did not know but soon hopefully very soon they would find out what.

...

James breathed in the cool air as he walked up the hill through the cherry tree's which as always were bustling with students on their way towards the school. He felt relaxed as he looked up watching the petal's appearing to fly around in the wind feeling a calm sensation.

All of a sudden he felt a few fingers pulling at his ear.

"Argh!" James shrieked in fright "Kotomi!" he exclaimed what did we say about-" he turned around instantly saw that it actually was Tomoyo Sakagami pulling at his ear who staired at him puzzled.

"I'm not Kotomi?" Tomoyo murmured "Whoever that is."

"Ack!" James choked realizing he could have almost compromised the secrecy of his relationship "F-forget I said anything!" he exclaimed waving his arm's around in panic "I thought you were someone else!"

Tomoyo covered her mouth as she laughed "Oh you're funny James!" she giggled.

"Don't make fun of me!" he rolled his eyes in annoyance "Anyway what do you want?"

Tomoyo grasped James's shoulder making him feeling extremely nervous "We're starting your _self-defence_ classes today!" she smiled "Come to the PE hall during lunch break."

"Of course!" James nodded "Tomoyo I really cant thank you enough for this."

"It's fine." she chuckled "You're a nice guy after all." and then proceeded to pat James on the head "I'll see you later ok?"

"Of course!" James replied with a slight blush as Tomoyo walked up the hill.

...

Inside the classroom James and Okazaki were sat at their desks busy in conversation regarding Kotomi.

"So what's your idea mate?" James asked as he tapped his fingers on his desk.

"I think we need to get her to meet more people." Okazaki explained "If we help her out she should be able to socialise more."

James grunted uncomfortably as he played with his fingers "Maybe." he murmured "I just don't wanna see her breakdown again like the last time."

"That won't happen!" Okazaki assured him "I have a bit of a reputation around the school so I don't think people would dare dismiss her with me around."

"Well if you're sure." James murmured.

"Excuse me guy's." A voice interrupted. Both Okazaki and James turned to see Ryou greeting them.

"Oh hey Fujibayashi!" Okazaki waved.

"Hi Ryou." James smiled "What's up?"

"W-w-well-" Ryou started to stutter and blush a light pinkish colour "I w-was wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me during the second break?"

"Oh um-" James place his hand on his chin in thought "I'm actually doing something at break-" and he explained about his self defence classes with Tomoyo.

"That sound's pretty rad." Okazaki mumbled shocked.

"Can I come and watch?" Ryou asked.

James started to rummage through his pockets "I'll text Tomoyo and ask." he responded as he found his phone and began to text.

...

Halfway through first break Kyou stood in the middle of the hallway staring blankly at James and Okazaki with Kotomi standing behind the two in whimpering in fright.

"Will she bully me?" Kotomi whimpered "Will she?"

"No she won't." James assured her "Just say hello."

"And just what am I supposed to do exactly?" Kyou asked raising an eyebrow as she watched the three of them talk.

"Don't worry Kyou this won't take up too much of your time!" James replied as he moved Kotomi in front.

"Come on Kotomi you can do it!" James whispered "I believe in you!"

"If you say so." Kotomi murmured and bowed her head "Hello I'm Kotomi Ichinose!"

"Um..." Kyou stared at her blankly.

Kotomi turned her head to James "Is she a bully?"

"Oh-" Kyou clicked her fingers upon realising who was addressing her "So this is the famous girl genius. What exactly are you two doing with her?" she asked "Okazaki I thought you were helping out Nagisa and James-" she paused for a moment in thought "I don't know!"

"As you know I have a reputation of being helpful to others." Okazaki replied.

"I've been hanging around with Kotomi for a while now." James explained "Anyway we're trying to get her to socialise more with people. You're good with people so I thought perhaps you could be Kotomi's friend too?"

"No offence-" Kyou began to explain "But you don't become somebodies friend just to do them some favor you don't just give friendship's away like that you have to build them."

"At times like this you say all the right thing's don't you?" Okazaki said sarcastically.

"No she's got a point." James pondered "Maybe we need to rethink our strategy.

As Kyou watched them she ran her fingers through her hair in thought "Look's like another rival has appeared on the scene!" and she rolled her eyes in annoyance and walked away.

...

After the rather disastrous results with Kyou the three regrouped in the old library and rethought their plan's. It was now decided that instead of Kotomi introducing herself in a rather blunt fashion that she would practice how to introduce herself with the words:

 _Hello how do you do? I'm Kotomi Ichinose from Class-3A. I love to read it would make me so very happy if you and I could be friends._

Both James and Okazaki agreed that if done well things would work out fine.

...

A little while later the bell rang out across the school signifying that it was time for lunch. The corridors instantly became crowded as students rushed outside of their classrooms and into the corridor with teachers desperately trying to control the situation.

James brushed himself off and turned to Okazaki "I'm off to meet Tomoyo." he said "I'll try and meet up with you and Kotomi if I can ok?"

"Sure thing." Okazaki nodded as he walked towards the door.

Before either could leave Ryou stopped them in their tracks unintentionally blocking the door.

"So can I come with you too watch?" Ryou asked with a slight smile.

"Oh yeah!" James suddenly remembered as he pulled at his left sideburn "Tomoyo said it was ok for you too watch as long as you don't get in the way."

"D-don't worry." Ryou stuttered with a slight blush "I won't get in the way. I'll be as quiet as a mouse."

James chuckled "Good good."

James and Ryou left for the PE hall with Okazaki going in his own direction to find Kotomi.

James sighed as he walked listening to the chaos throughout the school "You know I wish the other students would act more civilised during lunch." he grumbled.

Ryou chuckled and grasped his hand. James gave a faint gasp feeling more surprised than anything else.

"Is it ok if we hold hands?" Ryou was now beginning to blush a darker red "If you don't want to just say so."

"It's fine." James chuckled. "So how have you been lately?"

"Oh I've been ok!" Ryou chuckled "Just the same as always. you?"

James cleared his throat as he prepared to answer. He thought perhaps now would be the best time to tell Ryou about his relationship with Kotomi. After all next too Kotomi Ryou was pretty much his best friend.

After a few moment's he decided against telling her for the time being.

"I've been ok." he sighed "Been hanging with Kotomi mainly."

"I see." Ryou replied with what sounded like a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"So how are thing's going for you in the romance department?" James asked suddenly as he tried to think up a conversation topic.

Ryou choked slightly and blushed "N-no not yet!" she replied quickly becoming flustered "It's just-" she proceeded to squeeze James's hand tighter "Lately I've been _reconsidering_ my feelings towards someone-" he face was now becoming deep red "Someone that until recently I've denied saying that I loved them."

James gasped in surprise "So you're in love with someone eh?" he chuckle "Who's the lucky guy?"

"It's-" Ryou clutched her chest all of a suddenly finding it hard to breath as her anxieties began to build up. "It's yo-" all of a sudden she snapped her mouth shut and covered her blushing cheek's.

"Ryou are you alright?" he asked with worry.

Ryou slowly inhaled and exhaled deep breaths "Yes I'm fine!" she replied bowing her head "I'll tell you some other time ok?"

"Sure." James replied concerned for his friend.

...

James and Ryou reached the outside of the PE building. The outside was packed with football players, rugby players, tennis players _etc_ and the two completely stood out amongst the crowd.

"Gee-" James murmured "Any one of these guys could just attack us."

"It's kinda scary." Ryou felt a chill run down her spine at the mere thought of them being challenged "Let's hurry up inside ok?"

And the two quickly walked inside.

The inside was fairly small. There stood a women's and men's changing room on the left and right sides of the wall respectively a shower next to the men's room and the doorway to the PE hall.

The two entered the PE hall. It was very big with basketball hoop's at the end of each side of the room climbing equipment stood at the left side of the wall with some chair's standing on the right side.

"Is Tomoyo here?" Ryou asked her voice echoing through the room.

"Oh there you are James!" Tomoyo suddenly called out to him. They both turned round and saw her leave the women's changing room dressed in a track-suit.

"Hey Tomoyo!" James waved and pointed to Ryou "This is my friend Ryou that I told you about in the text."

Tomoyo gave a faint gasp upon seeing Ryou "She look's just like Kyou!" she thought with a faint blush upon being reminded of the kiss that herself and Kyou has shared.

"Hi there." Ryou nodded not noticing Tomoyo's obliviousness.

Tomoyo quickly came back to reality and made herself calm and collected "James go and get changed!" she snapped clicking her fingers "You won't be able to move around much in those clothes. Inside the men's changing room there should certainly be a spare PE uniform in your size."

"Thank you!" James bowed his head and hurried off into the men's changing room.

"So-" Ryou spoke up "What are you planning to teach James?"

Tomoyo smiled "Well today I just want him to do press-up's lift a few weights and then do a few laps around the PE hall." Tomoyo explained "It's important that his mind and body are prepared for what's to come you know?"

"I see-" Ryou glanced over Tomoyo's shoulder checking that James was still inside the men's changing room "You won't _hurt_ James will you?"

Tomoyo took a step back in shock "I wouldn't intentionally hurt him or anyone else believe me!" Tomoyo exclaimed "When we eventually practice fighting styles he may get the odd injury here and there but it's worth it to see him become a stronger individual."

Ryou grasped Tomoyo's shoulder "Just please be careful with him ok?" she whispered into her ear "I care about James very much and I'd hate it if anything bad happened to him."

"Dont worry." Tomoyo proceeded to hug Ryou "I can assure you that he won't come to any major harm! You have my word."

As the two separated the door to the men's changing room crept open. "I'm ready!" James was dressed with a red-sweat band on his head a white shirt that was slightly too small causing his stomach to pop out and a pair of black shorts.

The two couldn't help but burst out laughing at the rather _comical_ figure that James made much to his embarrassment.

...

James attempted fifteen push-up's but could only do three at a time become collapsing, he attempted to lift small weights which he did for five minutes and then he stretched out his legs and ran around the PE hall (they couldn't use the ground's due to the rugby players already using it)

After all that James felt exhausted without having broken a sweat.

"Take this." Tomoyo passed James a bottle of water.

"Thanks!" He gasped exhausted as he gulped down the water.

"Well that was-" Ryou tried to think of a way to describe what had just transpired without sounding too harsh as did Tomoyo.

"James I'll let you know when I can arrange the next session and we'll be doing more of this stuff next time."

"What about teaching me to defend myself?" he grumbled.

"You need to focus your mind and body first." she explained "Then I can teach you how to actually fight."

"Oh alright." James sighed rolling his eye's.

"But-" Tomoyo continued pointing her finger at him "I want you to practice press-up's at home at the end of each day!"

"Yes ma'am!" James soluted and proceeded to walk back to the men's changing room.

...

Ryou and James were walking back to the main building with fifteen minutes to spare.

"There's still time-" Ryou mumbled nervously as she clung to his arm "Would you like to eat lunch with me?"

"Actually Ryou it'll have to wait." James said much to her disappointment "There's something that I want you to do if that's ok."

"Ok?" Ryou looked at James curiously.

...

They soon found Okazaki and Kotomi and James proceeded to explain the situation to Ryou.

"So she's looking for friends?" Ryou murmured.

"Yep." James nodded "Look I know you _sort of_ know her already but she has trouble socialising and I thought maybe practicing with you could help."

"I see." Ryou nodded.

"Ok Kotomi go on and introduce yourself." Okazaki whispered in her ear.

Okazaki moved Kotomi in front but she remained silent trying to remember what they had practiced earlier and played around with her fingers as she thought.

"Ryou do something!" James whispered "Try to start a conversation!"

"Oh right!" she mumbled and cleared her throat "If you don't mind can I read your fortune with my cards?"

"Hey now that's a great way to start a conversation!" Okazaki exclaimed enthusiastically.

James shivered at the thought of what Kotomi's fortune could be as she proceeded to pick out three cards. Ryou's fortune's tended to be doom or gloom depending on the person.

Ryou packed her remaining cards away and gestured out her hand to Kotomi "Now show them to me." Kotomi passed the card's back to Ryou and she began to examine them. She looked for a few moments before giving a slight frown.

"I don't think Ichinose will make friends."

Both James and Okazaki gasped while Kotomi burst into tears and ran off crying.

"Kotomi wait!" Okazaki exclaimed running off after her.

"Ryou!" James grumbled.

"I-I'm sorry!" she stuttered "I didn't mean to-"

"Give me those damn cards for a sec!" he gestured his hand to her and she passed him the cards.

James proceeded to rip the card's in half. "These cards have brought nothing but fortune and misery!" he exclaimed as Ryou stared at him open mouthed "If I were you Ryou I'd give up fortune telling as a hobby!" and in a slight mumbled he added "Your obviously not good at it!"

Ryou frowned at James "That's like if I were to tell you to give up being an artist!" she grumbled.

"Oh god just shut up!" he replied turning around "I'm going to find Kotomi!" and he proceeded to run down the corridor with Ryou following close behind.

...

Kotomi sat on the floor in the library crying her eyes out as Okazaki tried to comfort her.

"Kotomi it's ok." he whispered sympathetically.

James burst in completely out of breath with Ryou following behind.

"Ryou's right!" Kotomi choked as more tears trickled down her face "I'm n-never going to make any friends! I'm just going to always be alone!"

James desperately wanted to hug Kotomi tightly and tell her that everything would be fine because even if she couldn't make friends they still had each other but with Okazaki and Ryou around all he could do was remain silent.

"Everything will be ok Kotomi." James said crouching down and rubbing her back. "You'll see!"

"Ichinose-" Ryou started to explain "The important thing is fortune telling can sometimes be _inaccurate_. Even if you get a negative reading if you and the people around you try hard enough you'll be able to change your future."

"Is that really how it works?" Kotomi sniffled.

Ryou crouched down next to Kotomi and hugged her "What I mean is I think your a really fun person Ichinose and if you'll accept me I'd be glad to be your friend!"

James and Okazaki gave a sigh of relief.

"T-thank you so much Ryou!" she cried as tears of joy began to flow.

"I'm sorry about ripping your card's up Ryou." James spoke up "I let my anger get the better of me and I apologize. I'll buy you another set soon."

"The card's don't matter right now James." Ryou smiled "Right now what's important is helping Kotomi make friends."

And they all smiled in agreement.

 _ **To be continued.**_

 _ **Author's note: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter because I'll be honest this has been one of those that I've really not enjoyed working on. I cant explain it it's just I'm writing it and my feeling is "Right I have to get this finished."**_

 _ **I don't know maybe there's too many subplots going on right now or maybe it's just me.**_


	40. Chapter 39: Violin of Death

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 39: Violin of death.**_

James, Kotomi, Okazaki, Nagisa and the Fujibayashi twins were all gathered around in the drama-club room for a meet and greet session.

They had all agreed that this kind of thing would be the perfect way to get the ball rolling on helping Kotomi socialise and make more friends.

"Well here I go." Kotomi mumbled under her breath as she stood up from her chair brushed off her skirt and cleared her throat "Why hello there-" she bowed her head "It's so nice to meet you, I'm Kotomi Ichinose from Class-3A I simply love reading and I would be extremely happy if you and I could be friends is that possible?"

The rest then took turns to introduce themselves.

"I'm James Walker of Class-3D and my hobby is art such as painting and drawing and I'd be proud to be your friend."

"Hello I'm Nagisa Furukawa from Class-3B I simply love to perform. If you and I could be friends that would be such a wonderful thing for me."

"My name is Ryou Fujibayashi from Class-3D my favorite hobby is reading people's fortunes I would be very happy if we could be friends."

"I'm Kyou Fujibayashi of Class-3E -"

"Here hobby is tormenting the weak!" Okazaki interrupted.

"I would be so very happy if we could all be very close friends." she continued before swinging herself around and kicking Okazaki with her leg.

"My hobby is what?" She glanced angrily at Okazaki who lay flat on the floor with his legs stuck out in pain. Everyone else just looked on in horror.

"Okazaki are you ok?" Nagisa shrieked.

"Way to go Kyou!" James grumbled in his mind as he watched Kotomi starting to become frightened.

"K-Kyou-" Kotomi mumbled in a shaky voice "I have to say that I'm very strong so please you shouldnt be mean to me!" It sounded to everyone like she was about to burst into tears.

"This is going to take a lot of work!" James remarked out loud as he removed his flat-cap and scratched his head.

...

The group chatted away for the next hour and a half getting to know each other and giving Kotomi advice on how she should improve her social skills.

"I'm going to practice lot's and lot's-" Kotomi said cheerfully "and hopefully soon I will be able to make plenty of friends."

As Ryou and Nagisa agreed to help support Kotomi Okazaki and Kyou mumbled to each other jokingly at how strange this little group was but James however just watched Kotomi deep in thought.

He was seriously considering asking Kotomi if they could reveal their romantic relationship to the other's. He was certain that they wouldn't make fun of the two and would actually show support towards the them.

"I just don't know." James pondered "I mean what if they do make fun of us or we break up it's just gonna be awkward either way!"

James watched in slight surprise as Kotomi all of a sudden appeared to space out standing up from her seat and leaving the room in a hurry.

Everyone was puzzled.

"Kotomi?" Nagisa mumbled as she followed her along with Ryou and everyone else.

...

As they followed her they all noticed some sort of musical sound becoming louder and louder with every passing step.

All of a sudden Kotomi stopped at a large door labeled " _Music Room_ " on the top. She pulled open the door and saw three girls.

They were all sophomore students one with red hair another with green and a blue haired girl in between the two playing on a violin. As Kotomi stopped and listened the three girl's noticed her and stopped playing.

"Yes?" The blue haired girl asked "What do you want?"

James and the others quickly appeared in pursuit.

"Kotomi?" Okazaki murmured.

"What's wrong with you?" Kyou asked.

Everyone looked at her completely puzzled at what was the matter.

"I'm sorry was I bothering you?" the blue haired girl asked.

"Oh no no really it's not anything like that!" Kyou chuckled gesturing a wave with her hand.

"A violin-" Kotomi gasped.

"Oh-" The girl looked at her violin and passed it over to Kotomi "Would you like to play with it for a while maybe?"

"May I?" Kotomi asked as she took hold of the violin.

"Sure." the girl replied with a smile.

"Wow Kotomi you play the violin?" Kyou asked surprised.

"Damn!" James gasped under his breath "All this time we've know each other she never once told me she could play the violin!" he placed his hand on his chin "Makes me wonder _what else_ I don't know about her."

Kotomi looked at the violin with a cheerful smile. She placed the end of the violin towards her head and pressed the bow against the strings. Everyone waited hoping to hear a beautiful melody.

 _GyililililililG!_

Instead of beautiful music Kotomi's violin playing made a horribly loud scratching sound. Everyone instantly covered their ears unsuccessfully trying to block out the horrible sound.

"So much for a _modern day Beethoven_!" James remaked as he clenched his teeth pressing his hand's harder and harder against his ears as his leg's slumped to the ground. "Someone make it stop!" he groaned as window's and light's began to smash all around.

"You're putting too much pressure on the string's!" the girl ( _who now very much regretted lending Kotomi the violin!_ ) shouted "Relax your hold!"

But Kotomi couldn't hear. She was completely stuck in fantasyland listening to what she assumed was beautiful music from her own hand.

After a few more seconds Kotomi at last stopped and glanced at the violin with a smile "It's divine!" she remarked.

Everyone lay on the floor exhausted shocked and almost deaf from Kotomi's _so called_ performance.

"Never again!" James thought to himself as he stuck his finger into his ears which were now ringing with pain.

...

" _Ugh_ " Everyone groaned tired and exhausted with their ears still ringing from earlier as they walked Kotomi home with only Kotomi herself appearing unaffected from the horrible sound of the violin.

"That was absolutely terrible!" James whispered to Kyou.

" _Ssshh!_ " she placed her finger onto her lip and glanced at Kotomi who was completely oblivious to their coversation "If she hears you it'll break her heart!"

"I know!" he replied with a slight grumble "That's what I'm worried about! What if she borrow's that violin again or buys herself one?"

Kyou suddenly grabbed James's ear and pulled at it hard shutting his mouth with her hand to prevent him making any sound "I don't think that's gonna happen!" she whispered "Just keep your opinions to yourself!"

"What are you two talking about?" Ryou glared at them raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing!" Kyou chuckled as she released James.

"Ok?" Ryou shrugged turning her attention back to Kotomi.

"James can I talk to you about something when we've taken Kotomi nearer to her home?" Kyou whispered.

"Not today Kyou-" James shook his head "My ears are still ringing and I'm too tired. We'll talk tomorrow."

Kyou sighed as she ran her hand across her forehead "Fine!"

...

James arrived back at the flat very tired. He locked the door and walked towards his bedroom wanting to go straight to bed at once.

"James-" Kappei came out from the living room before he could reach his door "I think your mum's condition whatever it is is getting worse. That or it's the side effect's of the medication she's taking."

James nodded "What are the symptoms?"

"Well-" Kappei cleared his throat " She's been staying inside her bedroom all day. She came out to make a cup of tea here and there and sometimes she would run into the bathroom and vomit into the sink. I've had to clean that sink four times today!"

James ran his hand down his face and groaned in frustration "Why won't mum just tell me what's wrong with her?!" he exclaimed kicking his door hard "If I knew maybe I could help!"

He was about to punch his door when Kappei grabbed his hand and stopped him.

"James-" Kappei murmured as he grasped James's shoulder with his other hand "Whatever it is your mum will tell you when she is ready. Don't get yourself frustrated. Keep calm cool and collected. Worrying isn't going to help her or yourself."

James sighed finally calming down "Thank's Kappei." He gave a slight smirk "You're a good friend and thank's for the kind words."

James then opened the door to his bedroom and stepped inside hoping to get a nice long sleep.

 _ **To be continued.**_

 _ **Author's Note: Sorry if this chapter wasn't too good. I've not enjoyed writing this one and I don't know why. Maybe it's because I hate having to write these long scenes' where I'm quoting the anime rather than writing my own thing or maybe I'm just burned out I really don't know.**_

 _ **Maybe I'll take a break from writing for a little while after this chapter is posted.**_


	41. Chapter 40: Things to come

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 40: Things to come.**_

James looked at his reflection in the mirror as he cleared his throat straightened his flat-cap and brushed off his uniform.

"James!" Victoria exclaimed hurriedly running into the hallway just as James was about to turn around and open the door. "Yeah mum?" he turned his head towards his mother looking at her curiously.

"On your way to school can you go to the clinic to get my medication for me?" She asked as James raised his hand and lightly shook his head. "I keep telling you mum I don't have time in the mornings." he reminded her "Kappei will have to do it."

"Oh-" Victoria sighed wiping her forehead with her arm "Well-" she paused slightly before forming her face into a cheerful smile "Have a nice day at school son!"

"Yes mum." James murmured to himself as he opened the door stepped outside and closed it.

" _Whatever it is your mum will tell you when she is ready. Don't get yourself frustrated. Keep calm, cool and collected. Worrying isn't going to help her or yourself._ "

Kappei's words from the previous night haunted his mind as he silently walked down the flight of stairs.

"I just wish she'd tell me what's up with her already!"

...

He continued on his own thinking to himself walking along the path staring at his feet. He could hear one of the school buses stop at a waiting station and the noise of the passengers as they got out.

But James was too deep in thought to listen.

"Hey James." two voices called out to him and he instantly turned his head to see the Fujibayashi twins walking towards him.

"Oh hey guys." he murmured to them in a bored tone of voice.

"How are you this morning?" Ryou asked as she hugged him.

"I-Well I-" James grunted as he tried to escape Ryou's grasp.

Kyou chuckled as she removed James flat-cap and scratched his head with her knuckle "You know you two actually look like a cute couple like tha-"

" _Will you both just leave me alone!_ " he shouted interrupting Kyou.

The twin's looked at him shocked Ryou let go of James Kyou passed back the flat-cap and he hurriedly placed it back on his head.

"Sorry guys but I-I'm just not in the mood ok?" he mumbled as he walked away "Just leave me alone."

The twins stared open mouthed at James as they watched him.

"What do you think's up with him?" Kyou asked turning her head to her sister.

"He sounded kinda upset and depressed to me." Ryou replied placing her hand on her chin "Maybe something's happened with his mum?"

"Oh no." Kyou gasped placing her hand's over her face.

"Don't worry sis-" Ryou mumbled as she hugged her twin "I'm sure he'll tell us when he's in the right mood."

...

"What could be wrong with her?" James mumbled to himself for what seemed like the thousandth time since entering the classroom. He lay hunched over arm's folded with his head buried on top with his flat-cap lying on the floor having fallen.

Class would be starting soon and he didnt exactly feel like participating in whatever the morning's subject matter was.

 _GyililililililG!_

James felt his heart vomit into his mouth in fright as he suddenly jumped up straightened at the ear piercing sound of Kotomi's violin.

"K-K-Kotomi!" James gasped clutching his chest and gasping for breath at the sheer shock and surprise turning his head to see his girlfriend standing right next to his desk holding her violin.

"Morning James." Kotomi smiled "How are you today?"

"I was feeling depressed-" he gasped "But now I'm f***ing terrified! The shock almost killed me!"

"I thought you were asleep-" Kotomi frowned "So I played a lullaby for you."

"Ugh!" James groaned slamming his arms back onto the desk and tugging at his hair furiously.

"Who is she?" A student asked.

James and Kotomi both turned their heads to see a couple student's glaring at Kotomi with annoyance but she didn't seem to notice and merely rested her violin next to James's desk and bowed her head.

"Hello I'm Kotomi Ichinose of Class-3A-" she introduced herself "I simply love to read. Books I mean."

"And that there-" he pointed his finger downwards to the violin "Is the violin of death!" he grumbled "It's already taken several victims."

"huh?" Kotomi proceeded to pick up her violin rest it against her head place the bow against the strings and-

 _GyililililililG!_

The ear piercing sound rang out again this time louder and echoing across the school. James's entire classroom were now on the floor knocked out from the horrific noise.

"How strange." Kotomi pondered "I don't remember taking anyone out with my violin. Not before this!"

James glared at Kotomi. He wanted to tell her that her violin playing was bad but knew ( _Just as Kyou has told him the previous day_ ) that it would break her heart and he didn't want that. The last thing he wished to see was his girlfriend in tears after hearing the truth.

"You say your depressed James?" Kotomi asked as she bent down and grasped James's shoulder "Shall I play a sad song for you or something more cheerful?"

"Ack!" James gagged at the thought of having to listen to a third piece of music from her "A-actually Kotomi I-"

But before he could finish his sentence Kyou suddenly rushed inside followed by Nagisa Ryou and Okazaki.

"Kotomi what do you think you're doing?!" she exclaimed as she got closer to her.

"So that was her playing after all?" Ryou shrieked "Oh no!"

"Hello Kyou-" Kotomi bowed and looked towards the others in the doorway "Hello Nagisa, Hello Ryou, Hello Okazaki."

Kyou grumbled in annoyance "No no not hello!"

Kotomi looked at Kyou completely confused "Then how about Bonjour?"

" _NO!_ " Kyou shouted tugging at her own hair " _I CANT COMMUNICATE WITH HER!_ "

"Please calm down Kyou!" Nagisa exclaimed.

"Yeah we don't wanna see her getting riled up you know!" Okazaki replied.

"I know that mr. obvious!" Kyou shouted sarcastically. She paused for a moment placed her hand onto her chest and took a few deep breath's before pointing her finger into Kotomi's face.

"What-are-you-doing-here?! she said trying to sound as calm as she could.

"I'm just playing the violin Kyou." Kotomi replied innocently.

"Wait a sec isn't that the same violin from the music room?" Kyou asked glancing at it.

"Yes." Kotomi chuckled "They said that since I liked playing with it so much I could borrow it."

"We'll have to thank them for that!" James grumbled sarcastically.

"Now I'm just going to play a little tune for James."

" _NO THANK YOU!_ " They all shouted before she could even begin to start playing. Kyou tried to make a grab for the violin but accidently knocked herself and Kotomi onto the ground in a crumbled heap.

...

 _Ding-Dong-Dang-Dong!_

As the bell rang for first break everyone immediately stood up and turned to leave the classroom.

"C-can everyone please leave the classroom in an orderly fashion." Ryou mumbled nervously upon deaf ears as everyone hurried outside crashing into each other and creating small arguments amongst each other.

James however had waited until everyone was gone to leave which he'd found to be the best way to leave class at the end of the lesson. "They never learn do they?" He thought as he walked towards the door.

"Come on-" he turned his head to Ryou who was also slowly walking to the door "Let's meet up with the others in the drama-club room!"

"O-of course!" Ryou replied in a slightly high pitched voice as her face blushed a light pink.

"Ladies first." James gestured his hand to the door.

"He's such a gentleman." Ryou thought to herself and chuckled.

"What's so funny?" James asked raising an eyebrow.

"Oh it's nothing!" she continued to chuckle as she left the classroom.

James followed and suddenly without warning Ryou clinged to his arm.

"Do you mind?" Ryou asked trying to cover her blushing face.

James felt a tingling sensation in his stomach as she moved closer towards him "Um...S-sure." his face slowly started to blush "But are you sure? I mean what if those _rumors_ start up again about us dating?"

Ryou replied with what sounded to James like a slight grumble of annoyance and slowly she released her grasp "Y-yeah-" She mumbled glancing at the ground "Your right." She put her arms around her chest rubbing her arms as her leg's moved around slightly.

"Ryou are you alright?" James grasped her shoulder but she quickly moved away. "Ryou it's just you seem kinda uncomfortable or something." James now felt very concerned for his friend as she appeared to distance himself from him.

"W-well it's-it's just-"

"Oi Flat-cap!" A voice shouted across the corridor interrupting Ryou immediately altering their attention as they turned their heads to the left side of the room and saw that Sekai was hurriedly walking towards the two looking irritated.

"What do you want Sekai?" James rolled his eye's in preparation of what was to come.

Sekai stopped in her tracks as she reached the two and placed her hands on her hips "Hmp! And where have you been for the past couple days?"

James looked at her dumbfounded "Wait what?"

"I said where have you been!" She exclaimed stomping her foot in frustration.

"Ugh!" James grumbled "Look if you must know myself and some friends-" he gestured his hand towards Ryou "Have been helping Kotomi try to socialise more and to make friends."

Sekai bit her lower lip as she glared at the two in suspicion "I see." she replied in what sounded like a sarcastic tone.

"Maybe you could help out?" Ryou spoke up as Sekai raised an eyebrow "What do you mean?"

"I mean you can be Kotomi's friend too." Ryou replied with a slight chuckle "You'd get along gre-"

"No no no!" Sekai interrupted "I cant stand Ichinose and you both know it."

"Look-" James could feel anger and frustration beginning to build inside himself "Unless you only wanted to ask me where I've been just go away ok?!"

"Hmph!" Sekai straightened her glasses and searched her pocket's with her other hand. "Take this-" she proceeded to pass James over a small piece of paper.

"A death threat?" James mumbled.

"No dumbass!" Sekai exclaimed "Firstly if it was a death threat I wouldn't be giving it to you up front like this! Secondly it's my mobile number!"

Ryou gave a faint gasp as James looked at the paper.

 _0981177654321 my number from Sekai._

"And _why_ are you giving me your number?" James raised an eyebrow.

"Ack!" Sekai gave a slight choking sound as her face blushed deep in red and her glasses instantly fogged up "W-well-" she glanced away from the two proceeding to play with her fingers nervously "S-since you and I both-L-like painting I-" her words became fainter and fainter as she mumbled under her breath.

"Sekai are you ok?" Ryou asked and within an instant Sekai came back to her usual self and pointed her finger at James burying it into his chest "If your not busy Sunday meet me at the train station! I want to see who is really the better artist between us!"

"Oh!" James gasped surprised "Well if I'm not too busy Sunday I'll let you know ok?"

"There you two are!" The three turned around and saw Kyou running towards them.

Sekai gave a slight gasp and ran in the opposite direction "Nice talking to you both!" she said running further and further away.

Kyou stopped in her tracks and looked further up the corridor "Was that Sekai?" she asked.

"Yeah." Ryou nodded "As soon as you appeared she got scared and ran off."

Kyou sighed tugging at her hair "I wish she would give me a chance to apologize to her."

"Don't bother Kyou." James assured her as he rolled his eyes "She isn't worth your time."

...

Everyone had resided in the drama-club room. Okazaki and Kyou lay sat at the end of the room whilst James, Nagisa, Ryou and Kotomi were all crowded around one of the many boxes crammed into the room with this one particular box being filled with props for performances such as clothes a sword and a wand.

"So many unusual things." Kotomi remarked.

"Yeah-" James mumbled in agreement "It's cheap tack but it does the job."

"I wonder if many of the other boxes have props." Nagisa said as she glanced at the other boxes spread across the floor.

"By the way how's recruiting members for the drama-club been coming along?" Ryou asked.

"Not very good I don't think." James shook his head.

"But I hope to have more members by the time of the school festival." Nagisa replied in a cheerful tone.

"What is this?" Kotomi asked as she took hold of the wand "Do you know what this is?"

"You've never seen a wand before Kotomi?" James raised an eyebrow.

"I was just about to say that it look's like a magic wand to me!" Nagisa chuckled.

"If you wave it around and chant a spell stars will shower over you and you can wish for anything you can think of." Ryou replied gesturing her hand on how to use the wand.

"Oh-" Kotomi gasped and stood up causing everyone to watch her with interest. She held the wand up high into the air and began to chant some kind of strange spell.

They waited for a few seconds but nothing happened.

"Well-" James sighed "The wand chooses the wizard."

"Maybe I didn't chant the spell correctly." Kotomi said disappointedly.

"But your amazing Kotomi!" Nagisa exclaimed happily "The way you chanted that complicated spell. I wish I could say lines correctly like that."

"Maybe you're just better at playing the violin than casting spells." James chuckled sarcastically to Kotomi.

"Really?" Kotomi picked up her violin that lay beside the boxes.

"W-wait!" James exclaimed "Don't-"

 _GyililililililG!_

But it was too late and the ear piercing sound of the violin screeched through their eardrum's.

" _WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!_ "Okazaki exclaimed with Kyou completely knocked out.

"James mentioned that Kotomi was better at playing the violin than casting difficult magical spells!" Nagisa whined.

"S-sorry about that guys!" James groaned placing his fingers into his now sore ears.

"Well play it somewhere else will ya?" Kyou exclaimed quickly recovering from the shock "If the drama-club get's a bad reputation it'll be bad for the leader!"

"Oh don't you worry about me." Nagisa mumbled.

"But I really want people to hear me play my violin all day long. Kotomi said.

"No you really don't!" James thought. "At least things have changed for her now. Before she'd stay in the library all day then she'd mainly socialise with me and now she's up for showing people her _so called talent_ for music!"

"I'm going to have to play a whole lot." Kotomi murmured looking at her precious violin "Because I know soon I'll have to return it to the music room so I want to play as many wonderful selections as I can.

"Sis I think you and I should do something." Ryou spoke up.

Let me see." Kyou thought for a few moments until she suddenly had a brilliant idea "I've got it! The day after tomorrow on monday you're making your debut playing the violin."

"My very own violin debut?" Kotomi gasped in awe.

"I'll gather lot's of people and make sure your debut is packed!" Kyou continued as she clenched her teeth "Until then playing in the drama-club room is taboo!"

"Ok!" Kotomi smiled blushing a light pink "I promise I'll practice really hard!"

James grabbed the wand out of sight and pointed it at the violin " _Avada Kedavra!_ " he mumbled under his breath to no avail and left the wand on the floor. "I guess the wand really _does_ chose the wizard!" he chuckled.

Kotomi made her way towards the room's exit "I'm going to the school roof to practice!" she said cheerfully as Nagisa and Ryou followed.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Nagisa asked.

"Me too!" Ryou exclaimed.

James slowly started to get up "I guess I'll go to-"

"Stop right there James!" Kyou quickly stopped him. "You myself and Okazaki need to discuss the details of the concert!"

"Then we'll just go by ourselves you stay here." Ryou replied as the three came closer to the door.

"Sound's like a plan!" Kotomi replied "See you three later!" and the three left the room shutting the door behind them leaving Okazaki, Kyou and James alone.

"Ok guy's." Kyou said to them "Discuss a strategy to break you both away from Kotomi. She's always sticking to you both like glue it's better for her to socialise more with other people.

"Yeah your probably right I guess." Okazaki murmured.

"I guess-" James whimpered proceeding to play with his fingers "But I just worry that she might get bullied or something."

The three all nodded in agreement.

"If that's all I'm going to take a nap." Okazaki yawned placing one of the empty boxes over his head.

"I guess I'll go outside and draw." But before James could even begin to head for the door Kyou had already grabbed him behind the neck "Actually James you and I need a private word outside ok?"

...

The two were sat outside in the grounds on a bench. The area was deserted with the occasional bird flying down or howl of the wind.

"So-" James cleared his throat "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Kyou placed her arm around James waist moving him closer towards her "I just want to know if your ok." she murmured "We've been worried about you since this morning."

" _We?_ " James raised an eyebrow.

"I mean myself and Ryou!" Kyou quickly assured him "You sounded really depressed this morning and I wanted to know if you-" She suddenly cleared her throat and played with her collar "Wanted to talk about it?"

"Oh it's nothing I-"

"It's not _us_ is it?" Kyou interrupted "Because if we're a bother to you I'll tell Ryou to leave you alone for a while."

"No no no that's not it I-I-" he stopped for a moment and turned his head to Kyou "Why would you think I don't like you or Ryou?"

"Well-" she started to twirl her hair "After Ryou unsuccessfully tried to ask out Okazaki and what she said about you I thought maybe that had had an effect on you or something."

James gave a sigh as he remembered Ryou's selfish word's regarding him when she'd tried to ask out Okazaki roughly a month ago.

" _But if you go out with me I'll promise I'll stop hanging out with him! I'll...I'll make him go away. Please. Please. PLEASE go out with me!_ "

"It's not that at all-" James assured her patting Kyou on the head making her blush "Ryou apologized to me about that anyway and I'll be honest their are times when I still feel hurt by what she said even now but I try to forget about it. She wasn't thinking straight and understandably said a few selfish things."

"Yeah." Kyou agreed resting her head on James's shoulder "Ryou can have her selfish moments sometimes."

"Don't we all?" James rolled his eye's.

"So what actually was bothering you?" Kyou asked returning to the matter at hand "Come on James you can tell me."

James gave a loud sigh preparing to release all the stress building up inside him "It's mum."

James proceeded to explain what had been going on with his mum over the past couple days and by the end had uncontrollably burst into tears.

"I-I-I just worry that she's hiding something from me-" James blew his nose with a tissue "A-and I c-c-c-c-cant do anything about it!"

"James it's ok!" Kyou whispered to him proceeding to hug him tightly "Your mum's gonna be fine ok?"

" _HOW CAN YOU KNOW THAT?!_ " He shouted his voice echoing through the grounds " _HOW CAN ANYONE KNOW THAT?!_ "

"I don't ok!" Kyou replied "But what matters is that all your friends can give you the support you need. All of us are willing to help you out and you know that." She hugged him tighter "Just don't be afraid to ask for help ok?"

"I suppose-" James sighed "Look I'm gonna head home ok? tell your mum I said hello by the way."

"Course I will." Kyou gave a worried smiled as she released James.

James stood up and began to make his way out of the school without another word.

"I hope your ok Mrs. Walker-" Kyou said to herself as she watched the cloudy sky "I hope your ok. For James's sake please be ok!"

 _ **To be continued.**_


	42. Chapter 41: A tragic discovery

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 41: A tragic discovery.**_

James suddenly awoke with a fright to find himself being shaken violently on the shoulders by Kappei.

"James!" Kappei exclaimed as he quickly became aware of his surroundings "You have a visitor!"

"W-who-" James yawned pushing Kappei away from him and stretching his arms "Who is it?"

"It's the girl who accompanied you at the wedding!" Kappei said as he left the room "Miss. Ichinose I believe!"

"Kotomi?" James gasped excitedly jumping off of his bed racing out of his door and towards the hallway.

"Hi James!" Kotomi chuckled cheerfully. There she stood at the door dressed in an orange dress with a white skirt. To James she looked absolutely stunning and beautiful.

"Hi Kotomi!" James replied desperately trying to hold in his excitement and the urge to wrap his arms around her tightly and hug her "H-How are you?" He stuttered bowing his head.

"Please come inside Miss. Ichinose!" Kappei gestured for her to enter.

"Why thank you um-" Kotomi chuckled feeling embarrassed "Sorry I forgot your name?"

"Kappei Hiiragi!" He replied with a slight chuckle.

"Yes that was it." Kotomi smiled "I remember you from Miss. Ibuki's wedding."

"Um Kappei!" James cleared his throat "How about you go and make a cup of tea while Kotomi and I chat in the living room ok?"

"Roger!" Kappei nodded hurriedly running into the kitchen.

James and Kotomi proceeded to glance at each what felt like hours. Checking to see neither Kappei nor his mother were watching James kissed Kotomi's forehead and hugged her tightly.

"Let's talk in the living room shall we?" Kotomi blushed.

The two walked into the living room and sat next to each other on the sofa. "I really like that dress." James whispered into her ear "It makes you look even more beautiful."

"Thanks." Her face blushed deep in red "I thought I'd come by to see you." She grasped James's hand tightly "We've not had much time together in the past couple days. Don't get me wrong I'm so very grateful for everything that you Okazaki and the others have done for me but-" she cleared her throat nervously as her face continued to blush "But your my boyfriend and I want the two of us to at least have some _alone_ time whenever we can."

They moved their faces closer together tilting their heads preparing for a romantic passionate kiss and closed their eyes.

"Here's your tea Miss. Ichinose!" Kappei shouted through the kitchen. The two quickly separated hoping Kappei hadnt caught them in the act.

"Damn it Kappei!" James grumbled in his thought's attempting to hide his blushing cheeks with his hands as Kappei rested the cup and saucer onto the table.

"That's very kind of you Kappei." Kotomi bowed her head.

"Thank you Miss. Ichinose!" Kappei blushed.

"Oh you can just call me Kotomi." she replied.

"Very well." Kappei laughed "So what brings you here?"

"I'm planning to make an apple pie for this afternoon when I practice playing with my violin." Kotomi explained as James listened with interest "I was hoping that perhaps James could assist me in shopping for the ingredients and then come back to my house to make it."

"Why cant you just bring everything over here?" Kappei raised an eyebrow.

"Oh." Kotomi blushed embarrassed "I-I didn't think about that!"

"Well to be honest-" James sighed patting Kotomi's head "I think going to yours would be the better option." he gave Kotomi a slight wink "Besides it'll help me take my mind off of mum too."

Kotomi gasped as her eye's widened "Is something wrong with your mum?"

The two boy's proceeded to explain to Kotomi the situation regarding Victoria's current state of health.

"I see-" Kotomi replied sadly as she looked at her feet and played with her fingers "I was really hoping to be able to meet your mum properly but I hope she recovers soon enough."

"Honestly it's been stressing me out all week." James said as he got up from the sofa "Come on Kotomi let's get going."

"Um James-" Kappai said.

"You're still in your pyjamas!" Kotomi chuckled.

"Oh-" James laughed as his cheeks became a faint pink from embarrassment "I'll go and quickly get washed and dressed!"

...

Not long afterwards James and Kotomi left the flat leaving Kappei to look after Victoria and headed down the long flight of stairs.

James wrapped his arm around Kotomi's shoulders as he helped her climb "Don't worry" he whispered jokingly into her ear "I've got you." Kotomi couldn't help but chuckle in response "You're so sweet James!"

"T-thanks!" James blushed bright red "I'll be honest a guy like me doesn't even deserve someone like you." Kotomi stopped for a moment grabbed James's head turned it towards her and kissed his lips "Don't ever think that James." she smiled "Because as long as we're together I'm a very happy girl!"

...

They soon reached the shop and the two stood outside reviewing the list Kotomi had written.

"Ok!" James cleared his throat and thumped his chest "We're going to need, _plain flour_ , _salt_ , _margarine_ , _cooking apples_ , and _caster sugar_." He then eyed up the shop. From the outside it was just a regular looking square building with the shop logo written across in bold letters but the inside seemed huge just judging by what he could see from inside through the window with shoppers all around purchasing various goods.

As James looked at the shop in awe Kotomi grasped his hand and kissed his cheek instantly alarming him.

"Kotomi!" he whispered "If someone from school sees us doing couple stuff in public god knows what's gonna happen!"

"S-sorry." Kotomi whimpered "But I love you James and it frustrates me that we rarely get to do any couple stuff!"

"We'll get some alone time at your place soon ok?" He whispered "Then we can do more couple stuff."

"Ok!" Kotomi nodded smiling happily.

...

Later they entered Kotomi's home entered the kitchen and left the bag of ingredients on the table still in the bag. The Kitchen was the size of James's living room with an electric oven, a sink, two cupboards built onto the walls, two on the floor and a couple white shelves with various species of display.

"Damn!" James remarked "You've got a pretty big kitchen heck your house in general is enormous!"

"Come on-" Kotomi said as she walked towards the sink "Let's wash our hands before we start preparing the food."

"Of course." James nodded as Kotomi washed her hands drying them off with a towel and James proceeded to do the same.

Kotomi then unpacked the bag laying all the ingredients across the table.

"I suppose I could cut the apples first." Kotomi said to herself outloud.

"I'll cut the apples." James assured her "You can sort out the pastry."

...

James cut the apples into thin slices whilst being ever so careful not to cut himself in the process and afterwards placed the apple slices into a bowl. "Apples are all done!" James said with a solute.

"Thanks James." Kotomi chuckled as she continued to work on the pastry.

"So how's your violin practice been coming along?" James asked attempting to come up with a conversation topic as he slowly crept behind her.

"I've been practicing lot's and lot's and I honestly think I've done very well."

"I'm glad to hear it!" James chuckled "I mean before your violin skills have been a little-" he paused for a moment trying to think of a word that didn't sound too offensive or hurtful towards her. "It's been a little _rusty_ I guess?"

"Yeah-" Kotomi smiled "The truth is I know I'm bad at playing the violin."

James took a step back in surprise "Wait you know you're bad?" he gasped.

"Yes but that's also why I want to practice lots and lots." she explained "When I was a little girl I could play the violin really well until my par-" Kotomi suddenly bit her lower lip to stop herself talking "Never mind." she mumbled sadly "Forget I said anything."

She gave a faint gasp as she felt James wrap his arms around her waist from behind and rested his head on her left shoulder. Her heart began to beat rapidly and her chest started to tighten.

"We all have things that we suck at Kotomi-" he whispered "But no matter what your always going to be special to me."

"T-thanks." Kotomi whimpered trying not to cry tears of joy as James kissed her on the cheek and tightened his grasp around her waist. He could feel his own chest tightening as he struggled to breath. His lower area began to feel hard and tingly. He was now desperately resisting the urge to touch her breasts and squeeze them ever so gently.

"K-kotomi-" he gasped in a choked voice "I'm just gonna go upstairs and use your toilet for a sec ok? I'm just gonna wash off what's left of these apples on my hand."

"Ok." Kotomi replied as James released his grasp. He gave a loud sigh trying to calm himself down.

"What am I thinking?" He thought as he walked up the stairs "I cant just _touch_ her there! I-I meant she'd understandably feel violated if I did such a thing!"

As he reached the top of the stairs he noticed several doors and was unsure which one was the door to the bathroom.

"Ok-" he wiped his forehead with his arm "I'll find it I just need to find the right door."

He proceeded to walk towards the door straight in his direction. He turned the knob and opened the door. He hadn't found the bathroom but instead something much more strange and shocking.

This room's walls were completely covered from wall to wall and all over the floor in newspapers and cuttings from books.

"What-" James gasped at the bizarre room as he slowly took a step inside "What is this?" he glanced at one of the newspapers dated _May 1993_ :

 _Tragedy. Ichinose's killed in plane crash._

The newspaper featured a black and white picture of Kotomi's parents alongside another photo of a plane flying across the ocean. The plan that has presumably carried them off to their untimely demise.

Now James knew why he'd never been able to meet Kotomi's parents. Why every time he'd brought up the subject she'd been reluctant to talk about it and immediately came up with excuse after excuse.

...

James came downstairs trying as best as he could to remain calm cool and collected entering the kitchen preparing to confront his girlfriend over her tragic past.

"Was everything ok James?" She asked still working on the pastry. "You were in there a while."

"Kotomi-" James mumbled.

"Yes?" Kotomi replied still not looking at him.

" _Kotomi look at me for a moment!_ " he shouted instantly alarming her as she turned her head looking worried "What's wrong James?"

"I went upstairs and-" he scratched his head taking deep breaths trying as best as he could to carefully break the news to her "Well I accidently walked into the wrong room."

Kotomi gave a faint gasp as her eye's widened.

"The room was full of newspaper cuttings about your parents and-" He began to feel more and more uncomfortable as the words left his mouth "Well your parents are dead aren't they?"

Kotomi stared at him in complete silence.

"The truth is you didn't want to tell me because you cant accept the fact that they are no longer among the living or that you were afraid of how I'd react-"

" _Get out_."

"But Kotomi I want you to know that-"

" _JUST GET OUT!_ " She shouted rushing towards him grabbing him and forcing him out of the house slamming the door behind him.

As quickly as he could James stood up and tried to open the door but Kotomi was blocking it. "Kotomi!" he shouted "Please I-"

" _JUST GO AWAY!_ " she exclaimed James could hear that she was now bursting into tears " _JUST GO AWAY AND LEAVE ME ALONE!_ "

"Kotomi-" James whispered to himself running his hand down the door. He then proceeded to punch the wall hard scraping his hand in the process "I'm such a f***ing idiot!" he growled and he rubbed his now bleeding hand.

He took a deep breath to try and calm himself and could still hear Kotomi crying right outside the door. He knew that for now the best thing would be for him to just leave Kotomi alone and hopefully have a private conversation with her at school tomorrow.

As he made his way out of Kotomi's front yard he looked through his phone contacts and clicked on the profile labeled " _Sekai Tsugumi_ " and hurriedly sent her a text.

" _Meet me at the train station in half an hour"_ he wrote _"Need to prepare my things first._ "

"Maybe doing some painting will help me take my mind off of all this?" he thought as he took another look at Kotomi's home.

 _ **To be continued.**_

 _ **Authors Note:**_

 _ **Shoutout to G-Matt for helping me out with a few story elements as well as supporting this story.**_

 _ **Hope you all liked this chapter even though it's pretty sad (but hey that's Clannad!) and on the short side but at least the story is moving along fine.**_

 _ **I've been wondering should I change the age rating on this story? Since this chapter did get a little descriptive about James's desire to basicly grope Kotomi and there's going to be stuff like that in later chapters, I'm just worried that if I go too super descriptive on those kinds of scenes the story could get taken down :(**_


	43. Chapter 42: The peak of rivalry

_**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 42: The peak of rivalry.**_

James arrived at _Hikarizaka train station_ feeling depressed whilst struggling to carry his A3-Sketchpad, a plastic carrier bag packed with three canvases, acrylic paints, sketching pencils and a couple bottles of water. His arms felt heavy from all the weight and he began to feel dizzy from constantly turning his head glancing around looking for Sekai whilst trying to avoid the amount of people walking to and from the trains.

"Oi!" a voice called out to him "Over here flat-cap!" he turned his head to see Sekai waving at him nearer to the barriers where the train's resided. "The train will be here in a few minutes!"

Without a reply James walked over to Sekai who stood wearing a green vest with paint marks and yellow shorts tapping her sandals impatiently holding a blue carrier bag making the contents inside difficult to make out.

Gruntingly Sekai cleared her throat "What took you so-"

"Just shut up and tell me where we're gonna work!" James interrupted "I'm not in the mood for your usual crap!"

She took a slight step back completely astounded that he'd dared spoke to her like that "Um-um-w-we're going to take the train." she replied with a stutter.

Giving a faint gasp James dropped all his things creating a loud clanging sound as the equipment hit the floor "You should have told me that before!" he exclaimed clenching his teeth "I've got no money so we're gonna have to change our pla-"

"I'll buy you a ticket idiot!" She interrupted gesturing her hand to his face "Just calm down!"

As She began to walk back towards the ticket register she grumbled to herself "Typical guy!" she scoffed "Acting like a complete jerk!"

...

The two of them waited outside for their train to arrive and stood against the wall in silence for the past several minuets.

"So-" Sekai broke the silence as she took off her glasses to clean them "looking forward to this?"

James rolled his eye's giving a loud sigh "I'll more than likely enjoy the journey more than the actual event! I love trains and I've not been on one for years!"

"Oh?" Sekai smirked "You like trains huh?"

James nodded "Especially steam-trains!" he chuckled excitedly "It's probably cause I used to watch _Thomas the Tank_ Engine as a kid and when I was about four we went to this event in yorkshire where all the trains had been customised to look like the characters it was just so cool!"

Sekai couldn't help but chuckle as she covered her mouth "You're such a kid!"

"I think back home at dad's I still have the photograph's somewhere too. It's such an amazing experience all that wonderful steam all the sounds and smells-"

"You know steam trains were pretty unsafe right?" Sekai interrupted "All the fumes and the smoke. Very bad for ya!"

"And I love the designs too!" He continued not having heard Sekai's words " _The flying scotsman_ and all those other ones they looked so cool! Unlike today's trains which are so bland in design."

"But!-" Sekai interrupted again "Both diesel trains and the trains of today are a lot faster." she cleared her throat "Now which would you prefer? A nice looking stream-train or the modern train that'll get you to your intended location at a much faster pace?"

James frowned as he thought hard stroking his chin "Um-"

And within an instant the train arrived. The doors slid open and the people inside left. After a few minute's James and Sekai were able to get inside. Many people were hurriedly trying to find a seating area. The inside was cramped with several pedestrians standing up due to the lack of seats.

"Right let's sit over there." Sekai clicked her fingers impatiently at a couple chairs nearer to the back of the train and as quickly as they could sat down.

"So where exactly are we heading?" James asked running his hands down his face.

"It's a tourist attraction." Sekai replied tilting her head resting it on James's shoulder. "It's a giant field of sunflowers. Now that I think about it it's kinda like that one Van Gogh painting actually!"

"Yeah your right." James muttered to himself with a light shrug.

"Ok what the hell's the matter with you today?" Sekai asked removing her head from James's shoulder "All this time you've been acting pissed off!"

James gave a slight grumbled blushing a slight pink "It's private! I don't wanna talk about it."

"Oh I know-" Sekai smirked "It's something to do with Ichinose isn't is? Aww are you upset because your little girlfriend dumped you or something?" she said in a patronising tone of voice.

"Oh shut up!" he grumbled "It's nothing like that and we're not dating ok! Just mind your own damn business!"

Sekai glanced away from James covering her mouth chuckling under her breath.

...

After an roughly an hour and a half of traveling the train arrived at it's intended location and the two rival's hurriedly stepped off.

Sekai cleaned her glasses and glanced at James and instantly realised that he was staring at her body and hurridly wrapped her arms around her chest "A-are you staring at my tits?!" she stuttered blushing a dark red.

"Ack!" James choked as his face also turned red and glanced away from her "N-no! I-I was just surprised about the vest!"

"What about it?"

"W-well all the paint marks." James replied.

"I wear it for painting you idiot!" she took a deep breath placing her hand onto her chest. "I like to wear this so my other clothes don't get dirty."

She then proceeded to smack James in the face and grabbed him by the collar "Also _NEVER_ talk about a girls clothes unless you plan to compliment her!" she then released James and turned on her heals.

"Now Get your ass in gear we've got a lotta walking to do!" Sekai commanded as James struggled to keep hold of his stuff.

"Yes your royal highness!" James grumbled sarcastically as the two started to walk.

...

They soon reached the middle of a large sunflower field that shined brightly upon the boiling sun.

"Sekai this location-" he placed his bag onto the floor and gasped her shoulder making her blush "It's beautiful."

"I knew you'd like it!" Sekai smiled "I come here often. Nice and quiet."

"That's the best way to work!" James smiled with a wink "I just cant concentrate with lot's of noise. So do you wanna get started or shall I?"

Sekai placed her hand onto her chin glaring at James's bag "Let me have a look at your supplies first ok?"

"Sure?" James raised an eyebrow passing the bag to Sekai who proceeded to look through the contents.

"You've already prepared the canvases!" she smirked "Smart man! These paint's I'm not familiar with the brand."

"Well they're from england so they're not your usual brand." James replied.

"Mmmhhh" Sekai nodded "It'll be interesting to see if there will be much of a difference between our paints. Would you be interested in going shopping for supplies sometime?"

"Hmm I guess-" James murmured "I mean it'll be good to have some when these run out eventually. Is there an arts and crafts store in town?"

Sekai nodded "Yep. I'll show you next week if you're not too busy."

She then examined his sketching and colouring pencils before passing them back to James.

"Right-" Sekai poked James in the chest with her finger as she cleared her throat "First we're going to each sketch this sunflower field."

"Ok!" James smiled "May the best artist win!"

"I plan to!" Sekai smirked giving a faint chuckle.

...

The two were sat upon the grass patiently working on their respective drawings. As carefully as he could James had already outlined the field of sunflowers occasionally rubbing out mistakes here and there and had begun to ink the page with a metallic ink pen.

Sekai meanwhile had also carefully drawn the outline of the sunflower field and was now as carefully as possible colouring her sketch.

James bit his tongue gently as he ever so carefully tried to ink the outlines without going off line. His hand smeared some of the lines leaving blotches of ink here and there around the page.

After the inking was complete James then sharpened his sketching pencil.

"I'm done!" Sekai smiled as she turned to James and glanced at his work. "Still at work eh?"

"You cant rush art!" James replied as he finished sharpening his pencil and started to go over the drawing.

"Why are you making it all grey?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"Watch, listen and learn my young friend!" James muttered.

"Yeah we're around the same age." Sekai mumbled under her breath as she watched James with genuine interest.

James's sketching was now completely coloured in grey. He then searched through his bag and brought out a greyish looking white rubber that had seen better days and proceeded to carefully rub out the grey colouring making it lighter but still visible.

"What's he doing?" Sekai pondered.

James then brought out a pack of colouring pencils which like the rubber had seen better days with some of the pencils being extremely small in size from having been sharpened many times. He picked up a green yellow and blue pencil and began to colour the respective areas.

"He's got so much patience!" Sekai said to herself gasping silently "I've never seen anyone take this much time with a drawing!"

After all the colouring was complete he very faintly went over the drawing again very lightly in grey before dropping his pencil and passing the sketch-book over to Sekai.

"What do you think?" He asked nervously.

Sekai straightened her glasses as she examined the piece. The colours were a mixture of bright and murky due to the mixture of grey, certain flowers were slightly too small in size and there was a noticeable lack of shading but even so Sekai was impressed.

"It's good." Sekai replied "Needs improvement but it's good."

"Well I honestly suck at shading." he chuckled nervously "Glad you liked what I did with the sketching pencil though. I find going over the whole thing before and after adding colour helps create this dark gritty murky quality to the picture."

"Yeah it's a good technique!" Sekai replied "I might try it sometime. So what do you think of my piece?" Sekai passed her drawing to James and examined it.

"Well I think your colours are a little too bright but you're great with the shading." James said as he passed back the drawing.

"Thanks." Sekai blushed faintly "By the way don't you just hate it when you work really hard on something like a drawing and when you show it to people all they can say is it's good?"

"Yeah!" James instantly nodded "Sure it sounds selfish but I'd prefer better compliments other than just it's good."

"I agree." Sekai replied.

"So what next?" James asked "Are we going to see who's the better painter?"

"Let's take a break for a little while ok?" Sekai sighed wiping her forehead "I'm feeling exhausted."

"Yeah sure." James replied as he fell back onto the ground and folded his arms behind his head "I hate working when I'm tired. The art will just look sloppy and rushed."

Sekai moved a few inches closer to James and fell back resting next to him.

"I don't know if you heard-" Sekai whispered into James's ear "But there were some people on the train mumbling that they thought we were a couple."

James instantly blushed and turned his head in the opposite direction "W-well we're not!" James stuttered "People should learn not to assume things like that!"

Sekai chuckled "This is just hypothetical but-" she began to straighten herself up again moved further towards James and rested her upper body on top of him "Do you think you and I-" her face instantly became a dark red "Would work well as a couple?"

James felt his heart race as his chest tightened instantly at the mere thought of it.

"I-I don't-" he struggled to find the right words as he stuttered not wanting to offend her. He felt Sekai grab his face and turned it to her direction. Instantly James's face blushed even more as twi looked at each other face to face their eye's widening. Her long pink hair shined brightly in the sunlight and he couldn't help but think that she was absolutely beautiful.

"S-sekai I-"

" _Shhh_! Don't say anymore" She whispered as their lips drifted closer and closer together. James closed his eye's awaiting the impact when he suddenly felt his head hit the ground and Sekai's weight removed from his upper half. He opened his eye's and slouched back up as Sekai burst out laughing.

"You totally fell for that!" she giggled "You actually though I was gonna kiss you!"

James sighed with relief as he wiped his forehead "That's not funny!" he gasped before thumping his chest and clearing his throat.

"In all seriousness-" he stated as he grasped Sekai's shoulder "I don't think we'd work out well as a couple."

Sekai turned her direction away from James as she blushed from embarrassment.

"We barely know each other so we've no way of knowing how we'd turn out."

Sekai removed her glasses placed her hand onto her chest taking a few deep breaths and placed her glasses back onto her face and she started to giggle again.

"I'm just messing with you!" she patted James on the back "I know we wouldn't work out and besides-" she looked back at James "You're already dating Ichinose."

James felt his heart skip a beat as he tried to remain calm "W-we're not-"

"Oh shut up!" Sekai chuckled "It's obvious that you're a couple. The fact that you spend so much time together the way you act and whenever I've come into the art room you're both blushing like I've caught you in the act!"

James's face instantly blushed a very dark red which he tried to cover up with his hands "Fine!" James exclaimed in a muffled voice "I admit it Kotomi and myself are a couple!"

"Although-" James said to himself in his head "After today I'm really not so sure."

"I knew it!" Sekai smiled as she slowly started to get back onto her feet "You guy's make a cute couple honestly. Now let's get this painting done."

"Sure." James sighed still blushing deep in red and he slowly stood up next to Sekai.

"How about we work together?" James suggested.

Sekai turned her head looking at him curiously as she raised an eyebrow. "huh?"

"W-well I just thought-" James stuttered as he cleared his throat "Maybe for the painting side of things it'd be better if we worked together and got to know each other's skills in a more interesting way."

"Hmm" Sekai placed her hand on her chin in thought "Sure." her face instantly turned into a grin "I'd like that."

...

It was a long and hard process. They each drew parts of the outline blackened them up adding the correct shading and just the right textures with the greens and yellows for the sunflowers and the bright blue sky which now slowly began to fade into an orangy colour.

The two looked at their finished piece in awe as they gasped heavily from exhaustion.

"You know-" Sekai sighed "You're the first person to really challenge me!"

"Oh?" James smiled embarrassed and slightly proud.

"All those other so called artists they just couldn't compare to me-" she started to explain "Their talents were far below mine and it was just so frustrating!"

"I can kinda relate to that." He murmured

"But with you I feel like I'm actually gonna have to keep up with making my artwork even better than before in order for you not to surpass me."

"So what you're actually considering me to be an artist now?"

"Well _amature_ artist-" Sekai replied "But yeah you've earned my respect."

"Thanks-" James chuckled "But cant we just be friends?"

"We can _never_ be friends!" Sekai scoffed poking at his chest "But we can be _rivals_."

And the two instantly burst out laughing.

...

They arrived back at the train station struggling to carry the canvas out of the train as well as their other supplies.

"So-" James groaned "Which one of us is taking this home?"

"I'll take it-" Sekai groaned "Are you ok with taking my supplies back home with you?

"Sure thing-" James huffed removing his hands from the canvas and stretched out his arms "It's the least I can do."

He then proceeded to pick up all of Sekai's bags moving them into his own.

"We should do this again sometime." James said as he helped Sekai grab hold of the canvas.

"I agree-" Sekai replied "I enjoyed it. Oh and don't worry I won't tell anyone about you and Ichinose. It's obvious you want your relationship kept secret!"

"Thanks Sekai!" James blushed "You're a good fri-"he quickly cleared his throat "You're a good rival!"

"It's not a problem." Sekai smiled from behind the canvas "I just hope your both happy."

"Thanks!" James chuckled "By the way-" he cleared his throat nervously "When you asked if we'd work well as a couple were you _really_ just being hypothetical?"

Sekai remained silent for a few moments and cleared her throat "Of course I was."

...

James had arrived back at the flat completely tired and exhausted. Both his mother and Kappei had already gone off to bed leaving him alone in his bedroom as he lay on his bed staring at the ceiling in thought over the day's events.

" _JUST GET OUT!_ " Kotomi's words echoed through his mind and he moved around uncomfortably at the thought.

"I think for the time being-" James muttered under his breath "I'll keep my distance from Kotomi and the _others_ too.

 _ **To be continued.**_

 _ **Authors note:**_

 _ **I apologize for the lack of new content from this story. I've not been in the correct mood to write and now with college starting up again I'm going to have even less time to write so I have no idea when I will begin work on the next chapter since I'll be too tired to write, edit and post the chapters.**_

 _ **I also want to apologize for some repetitive wording in this chapter like I said I've not written for a while now so my skill's are a little rusty.**_

 _ **I hope you were able to enjoy this chapter even though I personally feel that it wasn't one of the best.**_


	44. Chapter 43: Becoming Distant

_**Sketching Tomorrow: a Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 43: Becoming distant.**_

James glanced at himself in the mirror playing around with his hair making sure it was neat and tidy before placing his flat-cap onto his head his eye's were a pinkish red from lack of sleep his entire body felt tired and he struggled to keep himself balanced.

He straightened himself up thumped his chest and cleared his throat "Right! Off I go then!"

Just as he was about to open up the door and leave a sheepish looking Kappei walked in from the front room still dressed in striped green pyjamas.

"Hey James-" Kappei yawned "You must have come back late last night."

"Well I was busy." He grumbled turning the knob as Kappei rubbed his eye's "Your mum and I were waiting a while for you I take if she's still asleep?"

"Probably." James grumbled again now desperately wanting to end the conversation and to be alone so he could think.

"I'll let her know you came home." Kappei grinned "So you say you were _busy_ last night eh?"

Opening the door James stepped out "Yeah. I was working."

Kappei raised an eyebrow still grinning "Oh? I thought perhaps you and Miss. Ichinose might have gotten a little busy at her pla-"

"DON'T BE RIDICULOUS!" James slammed the door causing it to hit the wall with a loud thud marking the paint upon impacting the brick-work. "KOTOMI AND I ARE JUST FRIENDS! I LEFT HER PLACE AND MET UP WITH ANOTHER FRIEND TO WORK ON SOME DRAWINGS!"

Kappei took a step back in shock "I-I was only joki-"

"WELL DONT!" James shouted slamming the door shut and headed down towards the long flight of stairs.

...

Later James sat hunched down at his desk with his arms folded trying to get some sleep before the lesson started. Keeping his eye's closed in darkness he heard the sound of metal scraping the floor from behind and realised that Tomoya Okazaki had entered the classroom.

"Hey James!" Okazaki greeted tapping him on the back. James grunted under his breath and moved himself forward a few inches ignoring Okazaki who raised an eyebrow curiously "James?"

But James just continued to ignore him.

...

 _DING DONG DANG DONG._

The bell rang across the entire school and everyone immediately stood up from their seats to leave.

Under normal circumstances James would wait patiently for the crowd to thin out before he left but this time as quickly as he could he gathered all of his things and ran towards the door much to the surprise of both Okazaki and Ryou accidently knocking a few students with his sketch-book as he left the room and headed out into the over crowded corridor.

"F***ing prick!" One student shouted.

"That James guy sure is a weirdo!" Another whispered as a few others nodded in agreement.

As the crowd departed Ryou walked over to Okazaki with a look of worry "What do you suppose is wrong with James?"

"I don't know." Okazaki replied "He'll probably tell us later."

"Kotomi's big performance is today and I'd hate for him to miss it."

"Um...yeah-" He replied as he personally wasn't looking forward to the violin recital that was to occur in the afternoon. "He should come dont worry!"

Okazaki headed towards the door with Ryou following him worriedly in pursuit as they began their walk to the drama-club room.

...

"Where can I go?" James thought walking through the corridors with his head down past the seemingly never ending crowd of students. He wanted as best he could to avoid Kotomi after the events of the previous day as well as all his other friends who were no doubt already meeting up inside the drama-club room.

"I know!" a bulb suddenly lit up inside his head "I'm sure the reference room will be free! Maybe I could have a word with Yukine about my current fru-"

He was too deep in thought to concentrate on where he was going and without realizing it crashed straight into another student and accidently dropped his sketch-book onto the ground.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" he apologized as he bent down to grab his fallen sketch-book "Seriously it was my fault and-" he looked up at who he had bumped into and saw that it was none other that Sekai Tsugumi grinning at him alongside her friends Hana and Chiaki."

"Oh-" James began to feel even more awkward and embarrassed than he had before "Hello!"

"Hello!" Sekai grinned straightening her glasses as Hana and Chiaki watched curiously.

"So-" James darted his eyes around the corridor "What're you up to?"

"We're just going outside for some fresh air." Sekai replied "I take it you're off to see Ichi-" She suddenly thumped her chest and loudly cleared her throat "I take if you're off to see your friends?"

"Actually-" James sighed "I'm wanting to keep my distance from them for the time being." He frowned as Hana and Chiaki both muttered " _Oooh!_ " in a whispered tone "For personal reasons I might add!"

Sekai couldn't help but chuckle at James's reaction "Well if you're not really doing anything how about you hang around with us?"

"Um-" James stared at the floor as his stomach tingled with anxiety "I'm not sure-"

"Don't worry it's fine isn't it girls?" She turned her head towards her friends who nodded in agreement.

"Well if you're all fine with it." James shrugged. "I don't really have anything better to do."

"By the way-" Sekai gestured her hand towards the two girls. "These are my friends Hana Nagami and Chiaki Mai."

"Hi!" The two girls waved.

"H-hello!" James stuttered hurriedly removing his flat-cap and bowing his head "Pleased to meet you both ladies!"

The two girls laughed as James straightened himself up and placed his flat-cap back onto his head.

"Come on flat-cap!" Sekai chuckled as she turned him around and pushed him forward down the corridor "You know the way to the grounds."

 _BBBBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ_

James's phone suddenly began to vibrated and he hurriedly searched his pockets.

"Someone calling you?" Sekai asked as the four stopped in their tracks.

James pulled out his phone and looked at the screen.

 _Incoming call from Kyou._

"Just a spam call." James rolled his eyes as he ended the call and placed the phone back into his pockets.

"Come on girls." James sighed feeling guilty that he'd just deliberately ignored one of his best friends.

As they began to continue their walk through the corridor James's phone vibrated again and he quickly checked his phone.

 _You have one text from Kyou:_

 _Where are you?_

James ignored the text and turned off his phone as he continued to follow Sekai and her friends.

 _ **To be continued.**_


	45. Chapter 44: Know your enemy

_**Sketching Tomorrow: a Clannad Fanfiction.**_

 _ **Chapter 44: Know your enemy.**_

James, Sekai, Hana and Chiaki were all laying on the ground flat on their stomach's chatting away.

"So how'd you three meet?" James asked.

"Well Sekai used to constantly keep to herself-" Hana explained -"During break she'd just stay in the classroom and draw all by herself."

"Don't think that I was antisocial!" Sekai interrupted "I just had problems making friends and trusting people in general after my primary school years."

"Oh right-" James murmured "You said Kyou bullied you right? It must have really affected you."

"I don't wanna talk about it." Sekai mumbled proceeded to play with her fingers looking extremely uncomfortable with the subject.

Chiaki cleared her throat and continued with the story "Anyway we decided to talk to her after a while and we quickly became best friends with Sekai pretty much becoming the leader of our little group."

"So what do you three actually do then?" James asked.

Chiaki placed her hand on her chin in thought "Well we just kinda wander around places."

"Yeah-" Hana interrupted "We sometimes go to the arcade too."

"Do you girls like to draw?"

The two girls chuckled "We both suck at it!" Hana replied "Sekai is the artist of the group and she usually prefers to be alone when drawing anyway."

"I see." James mumbled under his breath.

"Right you two!" Sekai suddenly moved herself upwards "Go and buy us all some drinks I'll pay you back!"

"Yes Sekai!" Both nodded.

"Anything you want James?" Sekai asked tilting her glasses.

"I'll just have an orange juice." James shrugged as Hana and Chiaki quickly stood and ran "We'll be back in a sec!" quickly disappearing into the distance.

Sekai straightened herself up and moved closer towards James." Right now that they're gone we can talk."

James raised an eyebrow "Talk about what?"

"About you and Ichinose dumbass!" She snapped in response alarming James.

"Oh!" he gasped facepalming himself "I see what you mean!"

"So what's going on with you both?" she moved slightly closer towards him.

James felt a chill come down his spine "Is it ok if I don't go into exact details?" his stomach began to tingle with anxiety and he began to feel uncomfortable.

"Sure." Sekai nodded.

His hand began to dig into the grass as he gulped nervously "Kotomi-" he cleared his throat "Kotomi became angry with me and kicked me out of her house." Upon hearing a faint gasp he suddenly turned his head to Sekai. "It wasn't anything _perverted_ if that's what you're thinking!" he quickly assured her as She tried desperately not to laugh. Quicky wanting to get back to the seriousness of the situation he thumped his chest and cleared his throat "Anyway I feel that she won't want to see me for a while so I've decided to keep to myself since all my other friends hang out with her too and since no one other than _you_ is aware of our relationship it would be awkward."

Sekai gently grasped James's hand and turned his head to her direction "Listen-" she whispered in a sympathetic tone whilst beginning to feel her cheeks blushing red "Just have a private word with Ichinose. If you leave it too long she'll think you want nothing to do with her anymore and assume that your relationship has reached a premature end."

"I guess-" James nodded as he glared at the ground "But I just need to find the right time. Maybe a couple days at the most?"

"Sounds good to me!" She suddenly smiled and patted his head. "I just know you two can work things out I mean you're a nice guy after all."

"Sekai!" the voice's of Hana and Chiaki cried out running towards them with four drinks in hand.

"You both took your time!" Sekai chuckled sarcastically with a perverted grin hurriedly removing her grasp on James's hand and moving a few inches away from him.

After hurriedly sitting down they passed around each others drinks with the bell ringing loudly across the school before they could even begin to drink.

"Crap!" Sekai grumbled placing the juice carton into her pocket "We'll save these drinks for later." she turned her head to James "Care to join us at lunch?"

"Sure!" James smiled "You guys are alright."

...

James hurriedly arrived to class brushing himself off and sitting at his desk grasping his hands in thought as Okazaki and Ryou walked up to him.

"H-hi James." Ryou stuttered.

"Hmm?" James glanced at the two raising an eyebrow.

"Where were you man?" Okazaki asked "We were all wondering where you'd got too."

James slowly inhaled and exhaled deep breaths not bothering to look at his two friends.

"Mind your own business." he murmured much to their shock.

...

Later the bell rang and James quickly tried to gather his things to head out the door when Ryou rushed over towards him grabbing him by the arm.

"James!" she frowned "I know there's something going on. What is it?"

James grumbled under his breath desperately trying to break free.

"You can tell me." she whispered "I'm your _best friend_ after all." James finally forced himself free and glared at Ryou. "Like I told you before-" he murmured poking at her collar "Mind your own business." and he hurriedly left the room with Ryou pondering what was bothering her friend.

"What could be bothering him?" she thought placing her hand on her chin "I've never seen him acting this depressed before."

...

James and his new group of friends were sat outside the same area as before enjoying their lunches as the grounds quickly began to burst with activity.

"So-" Hana cleared her throat slowly finishing off her juice carton "James is there something going on between yourself and Ichinose?"

Giving a faint gasp his heart skipped a beat he could feel his eye's widening and his cheeks burn faintly. "N-no-" James stuttered. "We're just really close friends and that's all there is too it."

"I see." Hana gave a shrugged response "But what about any other girls at this school? Apparently you're also close friends with the Fujibayashi twins and you've been seen with that Sakagami girl a few times too."

"For the last time-" James clenched his teeth trying as best as he could to remain calm cool and collected digging his fingers into the dirt "I have no romantic interest in any of the girls at this damn school ok?"

Sekai glanced at her friends with a piercing look grumbling at them under her breath. "Stop it both of you!" she snapped.

"S-sorry Sekai!" Hana whimpered moving a few inches away from them all.

"To be honest though-" Chiaki added "We both feel James that you and Sekai would make a great cou-"

" _SHUT IT!_ " The two loudly exclaimed blushing deep in red.

...

After finishing his lunch and finally calming himself down James finally decided to ask something that had been on his mind ever since he first met Sekai let alone her friends.

" _Why_ do you all bully Ichinose?"

The three glanced at each other hoping to come up with a suitable answer. "W-well-" Sekai tilted her glasses slightly not looking at him "She just kinda annoys us."

"How?" James raised an eyebrow.

"She's too smart!" Chiaki exclaimed "She doesn't come to lessons because she think's she's better than the rest of us!"

"And those boob's of her's too!" Hana whined as she played with her rather _flat_ chest "They're massive!"

"You really hate her because of that?" James murmured feeling awkward in the current turn of events.

"Oh come on look at mine!" Hana whined causing James to look away slightly blushing "I've barely got anything and neither has Chiaki!"

"Gee thanks-" Chiaki rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Sekai is the only one of us with a decent pair of ti-" she was about to finish her sentence when she felt a hard blow to the head and was knocked out instantly collapsing flat onto the ground.

"Now that'll shut you up!" Sekai huffed feeling extremely embarrassed as she turned to James with a sweet smile "James dear please ignore young Hana she doesn't know what she's saying!"

"Whatever." James shrugged "But my point is if the three of you-" he suddenly cleared his throat "Actually the _two_ of you not counting Sekai got to actually know Kotomi better I'm sure you'd get along fine and be good friends."

"Ugh-" Chiaki groaned at the mere thought of being friends with Kotomi "My mother always said if people won't talk to you they're not worth your time or something like that anyway. That girl is just so anti-social!"

"She's really not!" James replied trying to keep his frustration levels to a minimum. "If you just took the time to actually get to know her-"

"She's not antisocial-" Sekai chipped in "Just...kinda awkward and shy."

"Sekai-" Chiaki's eye's widened her mouth open in complete shock "Are you saying that your friends with-"

"No no no!" She interrupted waving her hand "I just mean she's not as antisocial as we thought. For the record I still cant stand her."

"Honestly Sekai I think you don't really feel that way concerning that last part." James said to himself in his head.

 _ **To be continued.**_


	46. Chapter 45: New Girlfriend?

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 45: New girlfriend?**

During the busy lunch period Okazaki, Nagisa, Kyou, Ryou and Kotomi were all sat around a table inside the drama-club room to discuss the absence of their flat-capped friend as well as Kotomi's upcoming violin recital which would be taking place within the next few hours.

"So what could be going on with James?" Nagisa murmured under her breath as a strong urge of uncertainty filled the room especially for the Fujibayashi Twins and Kotomi but neither knew each other's concern.

"W-well-" Ryou mumbled as her sister rubbed her arm in comfort "his mum's not very well-"

Okazaki and Nagisa began to raise their eyebrows with interest.

"We don't know what exactly is wrong with her!" Kyou interrupted sensing that her twin was close to bursting into tears "James doesn't know either-" she then placed the tip of her finger onto her chin feeling her heart ache in pain suddenly coming to a possible answer for their friends recent distance towards them "Or _maybe_ he does." she murmured under her breath " _Maybe_ something has happened to his mum that he wants to keep private and doesn't want us to stress him out."

"What do you suppose we do?" Okazaki asked deeply concerned.

"Maybe we should give him some time alone." Ryou replied.

"I agree." Kyou nodded "But if any of us see's him we should let him know that although we understand he wants to be alone he can come to us for help and advice."

The four all nodded in agreement whilst Kotomi stared at the window gazing outside deep in thought into her own little world.

"You ok Kotomi?" Okazaki asked realizing her sudden lack of interest in the conversation. Kotomi turned her head and stared at Okazaki with a depressed look on her face.

"Yes Tomoya." Kotomi nodded slightly "I'm fine." but by the tone of her voice they could all tell that she was very uncomfortable.

"There's no need to be nervous." Okazaki assured her not realizing that the violin recital was the last thing on her mind "I'm sure your violin recital will be fine."

"Yeah-" Kotomi murmured "My violin recital-"

"Come on guys!" Kyou suddenly stood up and clapped her hands loudly "We need to prepare for Kotomi's big debut!" She then pointed her fingers at her sister and Nagisa "You two go and practice with Kotomi!-" she then turned to Okazaki "And you go and find some more people to invite!"

"Fine." Okazaki rolled his eye's expecting this whole recital to be a disaster as he stood up from his chair and proceeded to make his way towards the rooms exit.

...

The air blew lightly across the cherry blossom tree's beginning to feel chilly with a hint of warmth, the sky slowly becoming a darkening red. The school day was over and James and his new group stepped down the hillside with Sekai leading them forward.

"You know instead of going home-" Chiaki chipped in with a faint giggle "I've got something better we could do."

"Really?" James sighed not even attempting to hide the boredom from his tone of voice. "And what's that?"

"Knowing her something stupid and pointless." Sekai whispered into James's ear as they all stopped and stared at Chiaki who continued to giggle as Hana glared at her attempting to signal for her to calm down.

After a what seemed like many minutes of laugher Chiaki finally calmed down placing her hand onto her chest. "Ok-" Chiaki sighed giving another giggle as they all rolled their eyes in annoyance "I heard Ichinose is having a violin recital around this time and I thought it'd be great fun to go and watch her play and make fun of her."

"So immature." James whispered to Sekai who nodded in agreement.

"She's been playing that crappy instrument for the past week so it'd be great to watch her make a fool of herself." Hana added.

"Hhhmmm-" James started to play with his fingers beginning to feel uncomfortable at the current situation. "Maybe we shouldnt-" he then proceeded to bite his tongue to stop himself from talking. Although he cared deeply for Kotomi's well being and the fact that she was his girlfriend he felt he knew the two girls would get a taste of karma from attending the recital.

"Why not!" James cleared his throat covering a faint smirk with his sleeve "Enjoy yourselves!"

"You're not coming?" Hana and Chiaki both raised an eyebrow.

"I-I ugh-have things to do!" he answered frantically as he played around with his collar.

"Yeah." Sekai spoke up grasping her hand on his shoulder "We have things to do." she then proceeded to straighten her glasses as she glared at her two friends with a piercing look. "I'm gonna show him where I get my art supplies so that he knows where to do when he runs out of his own."

"Y-yeah!" James stuttered in response. "exactly!"

Hana and Chiaki turned to each other and grinned "Ok!" they laughed "We'll see you tomorrow then!" and with that the two proceeded to walk back up the way they came heading off to mock Kotomi and her so called musical skills.

"This'll teach you to laugh at my girl you-" but before James could finish the sentence in his head he felt his right side being pulled down as Sekai clung to his arm her weight and height dragging him down a few inches.

"You're gonna love this little shop!" Sekai chuckled as the two continued their walk down the hillside.

"Wait so we're really going to your supply shop?" James shriked in shock as he had previously thought that she had just been helping him with coming up with an excuse.

"Of course idiot!" she smiled clinging tighter to his arm.

"James!" Ryou's voice suddenly called out to him from the top of the hill. They both turned their heads to see her running towards them.

"Hey Ryou." James replied in a downbeat tone "What's up?"

She stopped for a moment to catch her breath her eyes widening slightly at the sight of Sekai clinging to James almost as if they were a couple. Her heart sank as she gave him a worried look "I-it's Kotomi's violin recital." she explained trying to remain as calm as possible under the circumstances and not rushing to conclusions "I thought you'd want to come. I mean you and her are close friends and-"

"Sorry!-" James interrupted suddenly. "But I have other things to do." he explained.

"Oh-" Ryou murmured half-heartedly.

"You see Ryou the thing is-" Suddenly removing herself from James's arm Sekai moved closer and wrapped her arm around Ryou's waist.

"James is my boyfriend."

Both James and Ryou gave choke sounding gasp's at these last word with James in particular blushing deep in red.

"We didn't want anyone to know-" She continued with a perverted grin "You're a good girl Ryou so I know you'll keep this to yourself right?"

"Y-yeah!" Ryou nodded wiping her eyes as they suddenly began to sparkle "D-dont worry I wont tell! cross my heart and hope to die!"

"Hehe" Sekai sniggered removing her arm from Ryou's waist proceeding to pat her on the head "Your a good girl Ryou."

She then clung her herself back onto James's arm dragging him down the hill forcefully as he stared at the floor still wide eyed from shock.

"I should have told him how I felt sooner." Ryou thought to herself walking back up the hill by herself feeling melancholic "But I'm too late."

...

Later after recovering his sences James had Sekai pinned against a wall not caring about the worried glances his actions were bringing from people passing bye.

" _WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING TELLING HER THAT I'M YOUR BOYFRIEND?!_ " His shouting echoing for miles around.

"All will be revealed in time my friend." Sekai smiled placing the tip of her finger onto his nose. "Now let's go supply shopping ok?"

 **To be continued.**

 **Authors Note:**

 **I apologize for the major lack of chapters recently! College has been getting pretty busy and even on my days off I'm just feeling way too exhausted to even write heck I'm surprised I was able to even crank this chapter out!**

 **I don't think chapters will be uploaded as frequently as they were before but maybe during the christmas break in about four weeks from now I will have more free time to write more chapters as well as continuing my High School of the Dead fanfiction.**

 **(Not exactly important but if anyone here is a Doctor Who fan PLEASE support the Power of the Daleks release so the BBC will animate more lost episodes!)**


	47. Chapter 46: From bad to worse

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 46: From bad to worse.**

"Ugh-" Hana and Chiaki whined for what seemed like the thousandth time much to the annoyance of James and Sekai with the constant noise echoing faintly throughout the grounds. The two had been suffering hearing problems since attending Kotomi's violin recital the previous day, and from the mutterings of students that James had heard throughout the day it had seemed as if the performance had been a complete and utter disaster.

But despite this James couldn't help but smirk with satisfaction knowing that the two bullies had suffered from karma after criticizing his girlfriends (lack of) musical skills.

"I guess it's a good thing that James and I didn't go!" Sekai laughed as her friends gave an annoyed look. "James and I went supply shopping. Right?" She giggled turning her head to James who blushed a light pink upon meeting her glare.

"Y-yeah." James thumped his chest clearing his throat "The shopkeeper was a nice guy. seemed pretty happy to have some customers honestly."

"Well he's a friend of the family!" Sekai explained as she twirled her hair with her fingers "The shop get's so few customers so it's always nice for him when he does."

"Afterwards-" James continued rolling his eyes not exactly caring for the details of the man's personal life "I walked Sekai home and went back to my own home."

"Did you two kiss?" Chiaki giggled much to the embarrassment of the two.

"N-no!" James gagged as he sipped on his carton of orange juice "As I keep telling you we're not a couple!" he then frantically turned his head to Sekai "Right?!"

Sekai remained silent, her cheeks becoming a faint pink and her glasses fogging up like steam.

"Sekai?" The two girls glared at her friend curiously as she continued to remain silent and uncomfortable.

"No." Sekai shook her head "We're not a couple."

"Thank you!" James gave a sigh of relief removing his flat-cap using it as a fan. His heart pounded furiously not just from the suspense of the current moment but also what Sekai had told Ryou the previous day.

" _James is my boyfriend_."

What exactly Sekai had meant by that bold statement was unknown to him with her telling him that all would be revealed in time or just simply ignoring the question all together.

"Here's a question for you James-" Chiaki asked with James giving an annoyed grumble "What is it this time?"

"Ok if you could go out with either Sekai or Ichinose who would you choose?"

"Right that's it!" James had finally had enough. As quickly as he could he straightened himself up and stormed off much to the complete and utter shock of Sekai and Hana.

"Now look at what you've done!" Sekai spat grabbing Chiaki by the collar.

"Hehe!" Chiaki snorted "What can I say?" she giggled "I like to annoy people!"

"Oh screw you!" Sekai grumbled pushing Chiaki to the floor standing up and brushing herself off quickly running into the direction of the school building. "I've gotta go and find James!"

As Sekai hurried off further and further away Hana turned to Chiaki with a raised eyebrow. "You think maybe hanging with Sekai is getting stale?"

"Mmhh!" Chiaki nodded slumping herself back up "James is annoying and his annoying traits are starting to rub off on her."

"Give her more time." Hana grinned "If this continues we'll stop hanging out with both of them and eventually deal with them."

...

James walked through the corridors furiously brushing past his fellow students much to their annoyance giving him foul comments as he went by.

"Stupid, stupid, stu-" he suddenly walked into two students and the three of them came crashing down on top of each other onto the hard floor.

"Ow-" James groaned as he attempted to straighten himself up. He looked below himself and saw that he had ran straight into Okazaki and Kotomi!

"Oh my god!" James exclaimed his heart racing with shock "I'm so sorry!"

Grabbing them both by their hands he pulled them back up bowing to them apologizing over and over again.

"It's fine don't worry about it!" Okazaki assured him "Just watch where you're going next time ok?"

"S-sure-" James mumbled under his breath as he and Kotomi glanced at each other nervously "Hey Kotomi."

"Hello James." Kotomi bowed her head.

"So how are you?" he asked not really sure what to say "How'd your violin recital go?"

Her face blushed deep in red "It's embarrassing I don't want to talk about it."

"Sorry." James replied.

"I'll meet you back at the drama-club room!" Okazaki quickly walked off leaving James and Kotomi alone with heavy tension in the air.

"Um..." they both mumbled under their breath, their eye's dancing around the room neither daring to look upon each other face to face. Finally brushing up enough confidence James cleared his throat and looked at his girlfriend whilst his cheeks blushed a faint pink. "So-"

"Yes?-" Kotomi quickly interrupted. Taken aback by the sudden responce he quickly pulled himself back together "How have you been?"

"I-I've been ok I guess." She replied nodding her head with a slight blush. "The violin recital had rather mixed results-"

"Oh yeah-" James interrupted "I wasn't able to attend due to conflicting events for which I apologize!" and he bowed his head.

"No it's fine!" She hurriedly assured him "I get that you've been busy with other things and things are kind of awkward between us since the other day which I have to apologize!"

After a few minutes of going back and forth apologizing to each other James noticed something that instantly alarmed him.

"What happened to your hand?!" He exclaimed suddenly noticing a bandage wrapped around her hand quickly grabbing it to examine. She whimpered slightly in pain as she forced her hand away from James's grasp.

"I injured my hand-" she explained rubbing her injured hand slightly "from playing my violin too much. I felt the odd sharp pain here and there but thought nothing of it but then the others took me to the nurse and they said I'd sprained it."

James gave a deep sigh grasping Kotomi's arm and kissing her injured hand "You moron!" he scolded "What am I going to do with you?" he chuckled patting her on the head as she blushed.

" _HEY!_ "

The two felt their hearts jump out of their mouths as the angry voice of Sekai echoed loudly throughout the corridors. She stomped towards them with a frown, her glasses steaming with anger and students in the area all watched anticipating what was going on.

"Come with me right now!" She scoffed grabbing hold of his arm forcing him back down the corridor much to the displeasure of both James and Kotomi.

"Sekai!" Kotomi whimpered hurriedly running after them. Quickly turning her head Sekai gave a spine-chilling piercing glare towards Kotomi "You just keep out of this for now!" she scoffed. " _He's mine now_." she whispered with a faint smile.

"S-s-sekai-Sekai stop!" James protested as he was moved further and further up the corridors until they entered the currently empty reference room. Shutting the door behind them she pushed James against it staring at him up close. So close in fact that he could see his reflection through her glasses.

"Listen!" she started placing the tip of her finger onto his lips before he had a chance to even speak "You need to stay away from Ichinose! I cant explain why at the moment but like I told you yesterday all will be revealed in time."

James thought it best not to ask any questions. It would only be a futile effort and if what Sekai said were true all would be revealed in time...

 **To be continued.**


	48. Chapter 47: All at once

**Sketching Tomorrow: a Clannad Fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 47: All at once.**

James tossed and turned uncomfortable under the covers of his bed desperately trying to get a wink of sleep. The room felt humid and stuffy even with the top window just slightly creaked open. As well as that he'd also had the events of the past couple days lingering on his mind thus depriving him of his precious alone time.

As he buried his face into his pillow for what must have seemed now for like the thousandth time, he was suddenly up from his bed in sheer fight as his door was knocked loudly four times from the outside.

"Who's there?!" he exclaimed loudly as his chest pounded with terror, the rate of his breathing increasing within every passing fraction of a second "If you're a burglar I swear I have a weapon and I will use it to defend myself!"

"It's just me!" The familiar voice of Kappei replied through the door "Your mum wanted me to wake you up because your late, now get your ass out of bed!"

"Late?" James slowly moved down towards his desk and picked up his phone hurting his eye's in the process as the blinding light of the screen reached him.

 _8:45AM_

"Holy shit!" he proceeded to exclaimed dropping his phone as he hurriedly jumped out of bed rushed to his draws and picked out a fresh pair of underpants, a towel and a flannel.

...

A short time later James had finally gotten himself ready for another long and tiresome day of school and was just about to open the door to leave when he felt a hand grasp his shoulder. Turning his head around he saw that it was his mother.

He'd notice over the past few days that whatever problems she was having seem to have been slowly worsening over time. Her hair appeared to be thinning, her eyes looking more and more red from a large amount of sleepless nights, she appeared more and more frail every time she walked and her voice was starting to sound more scratchy throughout each day with her sore throat worsening.

It was hard to believe that his mother was relatively young at age forty-three but was slowly gaining the appearance of a sick and elderly woman. Whatever medication she was taking, to James at least was having the opposite effect.

"James-" Victoria began, her voice sounding as if it even hurt just to mutter that one word "I'm going to the hospital today and may be late home, so I don't want you to worry if I'm not here when you arrive home from school."

"That's all well and fine mum-" James sighed trying to hide his frustration at not knowing what his mother's illness was "But what's wrong with you? It's stressing me out not knowing!"

She proceeded to remove James's flat-cap and lightly stroked his head "I think I'm certain I know what's wrong with me-" she explained "But I'd rather not say anything in case it's a false alarm because we both know that you'll panic."

"B-but mum-"

"No buts James." Victoria interrupted calmly.

"Excuse me." Kappei interrupted as he walked towards them from the kitchen "Like James I am very worried for your well being Mahm!" he exclaimed bowing in the process "I am eternally grateful for you letting me live here with you and your son and deeply wish that I could pay you back for your kindness and hospitality!"

"How sweet!" Victoria chuckled with a faint blush to her cheeks "But really you don't need to pay me back, if anything James is the one you should thank for even suggesting that you stay."

"I suppose" Kappei smiled patting James on the back "But personally I am eternally grateful to both of you."

"Hehe thanks Kappei!" James stuttered feeling slightly embarrassed.

"How about you and James walk down the stairs together?" Victoria suggested "It's a long walk James and it's nice for you to have someone to talk to."

"Sure!" The two boys replied steadily heading out the door.

"Such nice boys." Victoria remarked.

...

Outside the two gazed at the flight of stairs down below as they prepared to set off, with James giving a faint sigh.

"Well, off we go!" he whistled as they started to take a few steps down.

"So-" Kappei said as James grabbed onto the rail "How are you and Miss. Ichinose doing?"

Completely taken aback by this James gagged accidently tripping on his feet falling down a few steps, taking Kappei with him as they fell into a crumpled heap.

"Ow..." Both whined as they pulled themselves back up and brushed themselves off.

"What do you mean how are I and Miss-I mean Kotomi doing?" James grunted wiping dirt away from his sleeves.

"Hehe" Kappei chuckled, picking up James's flat-cap, wiping it clean and passing it over to him "I figured it out."

"Gee I'm surprised the others havent-" he mumbled under his breath as he took the flat-cap and placed it back ontop his head "Kappei could probably give Sekai a run for her money."

"So?" He then proceeded to grin at James "How've you both been?"

James proceeded to pause for a moment biting his lower lip, seriously wondering if he should let the truth out or just use the old excuse that they weren't a couple much like what he'd had to do when people had commented about him and Ryou when they always hung out together.

After a few moments, giving a faint sigh he waved his hands in the air in complete and utter defeat.

"Fine!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the deserted building "I admit it, Kotomi and myself are dating!"

"How's that been?" Kappei raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Ugh-" he muttered scratching the back of his head "Ok I guess."

"Have you guys-" and he whispered into James's ear. He went into complete shock, with his cheeks turning as red as a tomato "No we havent done that!" he replied in a squeaky embarrassed voice "It's not something I've thought about since we've only been dating for a week or so, so that has been the absolutely last thing on my mind."

He then slowly turned his head staring eye to eye with Kappei grabbing him by the collar "And god damn it, mind your own business with questions like that, it's private!"

"Yes sir." Kappei replied still giving a faint chuckle.

letting Kappei go, he grasped him around the shoulder and gave a sad sigh "Look you're a good friend so I know you can keep a secret-"

And James proceeded to explain what had happened between himself and Kotomi and how he'd been avoiding her and the others over the past few days.

"Why'd you go and do a thing like that?" Kappei grumbled sending a chill down James's spine "Avoiding her won't solve the problem, in fact what it says is that you are running away from your problems, you both just need to talk things through."

"Well we sort of did-" James continued as he noticed they were almost to the end of the building, their footsteps and voices echoing all around "But you see there's this girl, Sekai Tsugumi she wants me to keep away from Kotomi and tells people that she's my girlfriend and when I asked her about it she'll just tell me that all will be revealed in time."

"Gee, that sounds pretty shady-" Kappei murmured "I'd keep away from this Sekai girl if I were you. Maybe ask one of your friends to create a distraction for her while you and Miss. Ichinose try to talk it out."

"I guess." James nodded in agreement. A few moments of silence passed down the steps, save for the echo of their feet gently tapping the floor until James began to gaze up at the rather dirty ceiling and smiled.

"You know-" he snorted with laughter "Kotomi and I have something special. We both love each other very much, and care for one another. We shouldn't let our faults stop us from being happy, in fact when I see Kotomi today the first thing I'm going to do is hug her tightly and tell her how much I love her! I'll even admit the truth to my friends in the Drama-Club and I dont give a damn if they don't approve of us or not!"

"That's the spirit my boy!" Kappei chuckled "Hopefully your relationship will be back on track in no time!"

"Yeah hopefully!" James snorted in agreement.

"By the way-" Kappei cleared his throat, his voice becoming more and more quiet and if he were nervous about something "Not to change the subject but-"

"But what?" James raised an eyebrow as he watched his friend becoming more and more nervous with each passing moment.

He suddenly began to play with his fingers, as his face became pink in colour "Is Ryou seeing anyone?"

"Ryou?" James gasped "Wait a minute, you have a crush on Ryou?!"

"Ack!" Kappei choked as his voice became a high squeak, his pink face becoming a darker and darker red, with his arms waving in the air "I never said that I-"

"Come Kappei-" James grinned "Fill me in!"

"Ugh fine!" Kappei sighed giving a look of complete and utter defeat "I like Ryou ok! We've spoken a handful of times and she seems really sweet, and cute too."

James couldn't help but laugh at his friend even as he attempted to cover his mouth with his hand.

"Aww come on it's not funny!" Kappei proceeded to whine in a childish tone.

"Alright alright calm down!" he assured him "Look, don't get your hopes but she did tell me that there's a guy she likes but is too shy to say who it is, now if things don't go well between her and whoever this guy is I'll see what I can do ok?"

"Gee-" Kappei smiled putting his arm around him "Your a good friend indeed James."

"Don't worry it's fine and look!" he exclaimed suddenly "We've reached the bottom so I'll see you later then!"

"Yeah of course!" he began to wave as James hurriedly ran as fast as he could to get to school on time "See you later James!"

...

As he made his way down the street gently tapping his feet upon the pavement, James could not help but notice the rather large amount of cars stuck in a long line on both side's of the road.

The road's were completely gridlocked for miles on end, with the drivers becoming increasingly more impatient with every passing minute as the vehicles slowly moved a couple inches within every few minuets or so, with the faint distinct noise of the engines, and loud sound of the horns filling what would normally be a fairly quiet street.

"You know it's times like this when I'm glad I don't take the bus." James thought to himself as he began to feet a faint vibration coming from his front pocket. "Least I'll have a believable excuse for why I'm late, now let's see-"

As he looked at his phones half lit screen he felt a twinge of anxiety enter his body.

" _Sekai Tsugumi Calling_." the screens lettering read out, and as quickly as he had seen it he clicked the _reject call_ button and placed his phone inside his pocket.

"Remember what Kappei said!_" he reminded himself, attempting to build up his self esteem and determination "Stay away from her!"

He took a few steps forward and within a few steps his phone once again began it's constant vibration. Stopping to rummage through his pocket he rejected the call again and turned off his phone placing it back inside his front pocket.

...

As he continued on he finally saw what had caused all the chaos on the road. A large bus lay sideways on the ground, completely trashed with broken glass scattered all over the road, with police trying to apprehend the situation.

"Holy crap!" he muttered out loud, with a chill running down his spine at the mere sight of it "I hope no one was on that thing when it crashed!"

Trying his best to shrug off the lingering image of the wreckage he glaced over as he noticed another victim of the accident. A yellow car with it's front completly smashed up, a couple students were gathered around watching everything, happening around them. As he walked past he couldn't help but listen to their conversation.

"Did you see-" One student whispered.

"Yeah." Another nodded "That girl completely broke down!"

"Broke down?" James raised an eyebrow at the mention of those distinct words "Whoever this girl was I hope she's ok." he thought "I'd hate to think of someone actually being injured in that scrap!"

...

Upon reaching the school, the whispers of a girl having some kind of breakdown became more and more apparent with each passing step. It'd come to the point where even he was beginning to wonder who this girl was but would probably find out later on anyway.

As he walked up the hill, passing the cherry blossom tree's James couldn't help but notice a distinct sence of worry in the air, as though someone he knew had been affected by the crash that had occurred earlier.

He bit his lower lip as he began to think to himself worriedly.

"I wonder if-" but before he could finish that mental note he felt a soft blow to the stomach. Feeling slightly shaken up he turned his head from the view of his feet, to the figure standing in front of him.

"S-sekai-" James stuttered, as the deepening hole of anxiety rushed throughout his whole body "I-I-" he wanted to hurry past her and ignore her completely but her terrifying look stopped him in his tracks.

Her glasses were completely fogged up, with red eye's piercing faintly at James through her spectacles, she was giving a faint growl as she foamed slightly at the mouth, before proceeding to give him another light jab with her fist, this time on his shoulder.

"Whats up with you, you idiot?!" She growled, punching him again "You hung up on me twice, and then turned your phone off, what the hell is wrong with you?!"

She proceeded to repeatedly punch James anywhere she could until he grasped her arms tightly. "Calm down!" he shouted, noticing that his fellow students had began to stare "Where's the fire?!"

"It's Ichinose, you dumbass!" She shouted spitting in his face in the process, with the fogging up on her glasses becoming thicker and thicker. James felt his heart stop at the mention of Kotomi, and his eye's widened with worry "What about her?"

"There was a bus accident!" she explained forcing James's grasp off of her arms "I don't know why, but she completely broke down screaming!"

James's heart sank and began finding it hard to breath, his chest tightening with worry "S-she's the one who-"

"She was in the crowd,-" She interrupted "I don't know what happened, no one was hurt in the accident but she just fell to the floor and screamed shouting _I'll be a good girl! I will!_ "

"Sekai-" James suddenly grasped her shoulders hard "Where is she now?"

She felt a chill run down her spine as she gazed at him, it had been a very long time since she'd seen him worked up like this.

"Your-" she cleared her throat "Your friends at the Drama-Club took her to the infirmary. I've not seen her at Scho-"

But James had already rushed up the hill at a breakneck pace, much to her surprise and disbelief. Quickly coming back to her senses and adjusting her glasses, she proceeded to run up the hill following James in pursuit.

...

After non stop running for what seemed like an eternity he arrived at the outside of the school's infirmary, much to the surprise of Okazaki, Nagisa, Kyou and Ryou. He had stopped suddenly in his tracks almost falling to the floor, grasping the wall coughing and wheezing loudly as his chest burned intensely, with beads of swear dropping from his forehead, dripping like raindrops onto the ground.

"James!" Nagisa, and the twins all gasped out loud, whilst Okazaki frowned upon him and clenched his fists.

"H-heard-" James stopped for a second to catch his breath before continuing "Heard about what happened!" he said before giving another loud cough "How is Kotomi?"

But before anyone could answer his question he was suddenly pulled up in the air by Okazaki who had grabbed him hard by the collar, and dangled him a few inches from the ground.

"Okazaki, put him down!" Kyou shouted as the other two girls watched in horror.

"So _now_ you show up!" Okazaki spat in his face "All this time for whatever reason you've been avoiding Kotomi-no! Not just Kotomi but all of us in fact and it's only when Kotomi breaks down that you decided to talk to us?"

Okazaki suddenly felt a kick to the stomach, dropping James who almost fell to the floor, trying to regain his balance "You bastard!" James grumbled, feeling an intense level of anger, and fright enter his body "You have no idea what kind of crap I go through!"

And much to everyone's shock he proceeded to punch Okazaki in the face. The punch however was weak and made little to no impact on Okazaki, who proceeded to retaliate and punch James in the face.

Upon impact he felt a hard, blow and fell to the floor. He felt dizzy, and everything and everyone were in two's as he groggily tried to stand back up, wiping his nose as a trickle of blood ran down his face.

The two were ready to go again when Kyou grabbed Okazaki, pinning his arms, in order to stop him which wasn't easy in the slightest as he furiously fought to break free, without trying to hurt Kyou in the process.

"Both of you stop it!" she shouted trying to remain calm and collected despite the fact that, she was quite ready to burst into tears at what had transpired only a few hours into the day.

Ryou suddenly ran up to James and tried to grab his arms, to stop him from fighting back. "P-please stop!" she whined trying not to burst into tears. He quickly broke free from Ryou and turned to face her, his eyes completely red with anger "Get the hell off me!" he shouted, with Ryou backing away slowly.

"JUST GET OUT OF HERE JAMES!" Okazaki shouted, still furiously trying to escape Kyou's grasp "KOTOMI DESERVES BETTER FRIENDS THAN YOU, FRIENDS WHO WILL STICK BY HER NO MATTER WHAT, NOT A SELFISH BASTARD LIKE YOU!"

James had just about had enough and was about to lunge after Okazaki when he suddenly felt an arm ring itself around his neck tightly, as he was forcefully dragged away.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" He shouted, trying to see who was dragging him away, as the others watched him being taken.

"Just shut up!" The familiar voice of Sekai scolded "I'm taking you somewhere where you're not gonna get hurt!"

...

After this things seemed to only get worse for poor James. Whilst Sekai had at least tried to comfort and reassure him that Kotomi would be fine Hana and Chiaki just laughed, having witnessed her breakdown first hand, and had found it an amusing scene, which caused James to storm off in frustration, not wanting to hurt the two girls despite the temptation to place his hand's around their necks and squeeze.

Afterwards he didn't bother to attend any lessons, at all during the day and was taken to the classroom by Ryou and was given a harsh scolding by the teacher.

"MR. WALKER IF YOU CONTINUE TO SKIP CLASS LIKE THIS YOU WILL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING IN THIS WORLD! IF YOU CONTINUE THIS ON A REGULAR BASIS WE WILL HAVE NO OTHER OPTION THAN TO SUSPEND YOU!"

After that James left the classroom, whilst bottling up all his suppressed emotions trying furiously not to burst into tears. As he walked out of the classroom door he was greeted by Ryou.

"Hey." she said quietly not even looking at him in the face, as she gently rubbed her arm "I'm sorry for getting you into trouble. It was my duty as class repre-" her cheeks suddenly blushed a faint pink as James patted her on the head.

"Dont worry." He forced a smile trying to cover his teary eyes "I don't blame you, if I were in that situation I'd probably have done the same."

All of a sudden he was embraced in a tight hug by Ryou "James-" she said in a soothing voice "I know you're hurting right now. Kotomi and yourself have been close friends for a while now, so I understand why you've been acting the way you've been. So do the others and we're all here for you too as well as Kotomi. We just need to all stick together ok?"

He couldn't help but find the tone of her voice incredible soothing, as he wrapped his arms around her back, returning the hug.

"The truth is Ryou-" he cleared his throat, feeling a tightening sensation as his cheeks blushed a dark red "Kotomi and I-"

"Hey you two." the melancholic voice of Kyou suddenly interrupted them, much to their surprise as they hurriedly separated, with their faces becoming deep in red.

"H-Hey Kyou." James nodded as he straightened his flat-cap.

"I-it wasn't what it looked like sis!" Ryou exclaimed in a high pitched tone of voice.

Kyou just looked at them and shrugged "Whatever." her voice sounded completely monotone and depressed, very much unlikely the usual high spirited and somewhat aggressive girl that they knew, but given the circumstances this was absolutely understandable.

"We're going to try and visit Kotomi at her home." she explained "And James I was wondering if you wanted to come with us. It's ok if you don't want too, we understand."

James scratched his head considering for a brief moment.

"Fine I'll go."

...

Together they arrived as a group, at the entrance of Kotomi's home, and all except James were shocked at the conditions of the front garden. They tried the front door but there was no answer.

"Maybe she's not home?" Kyou pondered.

"Or maybe she could be resting in bed?" Said Nagisa in a child-like tone.

"I don't like it." James said to himself "I don't like it at all. Something isn't right!"

They all decided to call it a day and try again tomorrow. As they waited at a traffic light Okazaki suddenly ran off back into the direction of Kotomi's home as everyone looked on in worry. James also hurriedly followed him in pursuit and soon caught up with him.

"Okazaki wait!" James stopped for a moment to catch his breath.

"James you don't have to follow me!" he grunted.

"Look!" He exclaimed, trying to keep his anger down lest they end up in another fight "I'm worried about Kotomi too ok? So I'm going with you weather you like it or not!"

"Ugh-" Okazaki rolled his eyes in defeat "Fine, let's go!"

...

They walked the rest of the way and found a suspicious man roaming around the front of the house. The man dressed in an all grey-suit, hat and black sunglasses.

James instantly recognized the man from before, when he, James had bought Kotomi a teddy bear as a gift after walking around town with her. Even when James had questioned him the man had remained very mysterious over who he was, and what his connections to Kotomi were, but also in hindsight had given him a warning regarding Kotomi's tragic past.

 _"What do you know about the situation regarding Kotomi's parents?"_

 _"You must not be aware of it. It's not my place to say but a lot of thing's trouble that poor girl."_

 _"Look out for her kid. She's far more fragile than see seem's and could break down at anytime if a terrible incident were to occur."_

Only now did he realise exactly what he'd meant by this. He'd been warned that something had occurred with Kotomi's parents but never thought to press the matter further with her, even when he did find out she had shouted at him and kicked him out of her house.

He was starting to feel as though there really still much that he still needed to learn about her and more and more regretted becoming distant with her.

"I really am a jerk." He thought to himself.

The two boys challenged the man, who explained that he was in fact an old acquaintance of Kotomi's parents, and had been wanting to talk to her for some time.

When Okazaki asked further regarding Kotomi's parents (with James deciding to keep his knowledge of their demise quiet for now) the man took them to a nearby lake and attempted to explain the research, that Kotomi's parents had been working on.

" _This universe is not just that, which we can see..._ "

The man explained. The research of Kotomi's parents had involved the fascinating theory of a microscopic dimension, that was sealed away, a sort of parallel world which James himself had believed in for years partly due to all the science-fiction show's he'd seen, but now hearing that the existence of such worlds could have actually been proven true absolutely fascinated him, whilst Okazaki found the whole concept rather difficult to completely understand.

The Ichinose's had worked long and hard trying to prove the existence of such worlds, but as James and the man knew it had all come to an abrupt and tragic end...

...

After parting way's with the mysterious man the two continued on their goal of finding Kotomi, deciding to sneak in through the backdoor much to the worry of James who feared that they may be mistaken for burglars, but Okazaki assured him that they would be fine and continued on.

The inside of the house had a creepy atmosphere to it. The front, room and stairs were absolutely silent save for the creaking of the floor-boards every so often. Once they reached the stairs they tried the first door they saw, one that was very familiar to James as it had been the room where he had discovered the tragic demise of the Ichinose's.

He thought to hold Okazaki off from opening it, in the possibility that Kotomi might not be in there but left him to it deciding that they'd probably end up checking all the rooms for her anyway.

The door slowly crept open. There in the middle of the room was Kotomi, just sitting there silently on the floor as if she were preying or something. Flashbacks instantly played in James's minded as he looked around the room, while Okazaki just looked on in shock.

"I should have never kept my distance from her..."

He desperately wanted to hug her and assure her that everything would be ok, but he thought it best not too. Not because Okazaki stood there beside him but because he knew she'd most likely not want his affection in her current state of mourning.

...

" _The day before yesterday I saw a rabbit, yesterday it was a deer, and today it's you_."

Kotomi explained her past to the two boys. What it had been like growing up, what her parents were like, the surprising revelation that Okazaki and her had been close friends for a time, and the sad tragic story of how she had lost her parents and what she strongly believed was the only copy of their work, which she'd burnt up long ago.

James was trying his absolute best not to break down into a teary fit right now, but he couldn't help himself as warm tears rolled down his cheeks.

"If you two don't mind-" Kotomi said sadly "I need to be alone right now."

They were both about to turn and head for the door when James felt Kotomi's hand grasp hard at his leg.

"James." she stopped for a moment as though she was seriously pondering something before taking a deep breath "I'd like a private word please."

He instantly felt a large amount of anxiety build up as his chest pounded with emotion. "I'll meet you downstairs." he said turning his head to Okazaki who gently shut the door, and could be heard walking down the stairs.

As quickly as he could James crouched down and hugged Kotomi from behind, finally releasing all his bottled emotions "I'm so sorry Kotomi!" he cried loudly "I should have been there when you broke down! I should have comforted you in your time of need!"

"Shhh" she whispered in a soothing voice "It's ok." she said not looking at him "It's not your fault and.. and I'm sorry for kicking you out of my house the other day It's just, I cant help but blame myself for the death of my parents, but I also denied that they had died! I lied to you! I lied to everyone!"

"I'm a terrible girlfriend." she muttered quietly to herself.

"Kotomi it's fine we can get through this!" he desperately tried to assure her "All of us at the drama-club care for you very much and-"

"And I'm very grateful." she interrupted "Ever since I met you I've felt so much happiness and joy in my life, hanging out, making new friends and I..." he voice began to trail off sounding quieter and more emotional with every breath "I wouldn't have missed it for anything!"

She suddenly burst into tears covering her eye's with her hands as James continued to hug her tightly, gently stroking her hair.

"There's something I need to give you James." she sniffled wiping her eyes with her sleeve. James instantly let go off her and she brought out a brown envelope from her pocket, turned around and passed it over to him.

"I want you to take this!" she said with a look of determination. "Dont read it until tonight at _10:00_ ok?"

"Um... sure?" he raised an eyebrow, taking a look at the brown envelope which simply read " _To James_." on the front of it.

"Whatever happens James-" she slowly brought herself closer to him, their lips inches from touching each other "I'll always love you!" and she kissed him hard and passionately. They separated after a few seconds and James stood up and prepared to leave placing the envelope inside his pocket.

As he was about to grab the doorknob he turned back, taking one last look at Kotomi. "I love you." he whispered, gently opening the door, walking out and closing it silently.

"Goodbye James." she sniffled.

...

"So what were you two talking about?" Okazaki asked, as he watched James walk down the creaky steps.

"It's private." he murmured checking his pocket, to make sure the envelope was still inside. "We'd better head home."

The two left the house, making sure all doors and windows were locked and had one final conversation before parting ways.

"James." Okazaki said gesturing his hand "Sorry about this morning."

"No need to apologize!" he gave a forced chuckle "It was perfectly understandable old-chap!" giving another forced chuckle the two shook hands and parted ways, each heading off to their respective homes.

As James gazed up at the orangy sky, he dug into his pocket, taking another glance at the envelope wondering what it's contents could be. After putting it back inside his pocket he sighed loudly, as a feeling of dread, and depression consumed him.

"What else could go wrong today?" he sighed.

...

As he made his way up the long flight of stairs, he continued to wonder what else could possibly go wrong, but perhaps he was becoming paranoid. Yes that was it. Soon he would be in the comfort of his own home and be able to relieve his stress by watching television or maybe hooking up the old PlayStation. Perhaps he, his mum and Kappei could do a 3-player co-op on Crash Team Racing!

"Yeah-" he sighed "That'll take my mind off things."

As he approached the door, a feeling of dread began consuming him, which he tried to shrug off as he turned the doorknob and entered the flat.

"I'm back mum!" he exclaimed, trying to sound more cheerful than he had been. But no reply came and the flat had a creepy silence to it.

"Mum?" he walked into the front room saw Victoria and Kappei sitting on the sofa in silence, looking very upset.

"James-" Victoria whimpered quietly, taking a few deep breaths and sipping a mug of tea which shook lightly as she moved the cup back to the table "Sit down for a moment."

He felt his chest becoming painful tight, with a tingling feeling in his stomach, and the prickling of hairs on the back of his neck. "In a moment mum-" he said "I just need to-"

" _Sit down!_ " she said in a slightly more aggressive tone.

As James entered the front room, Kappei got up to leave. He glanced at James for a moment looking as if he were about to say something but stopped himself, and left the room.

"Yes mum?" James asked as he sat next to her.

Victoria sighed wrapping her arm around him tightly, and sounding as if she was about to cry with every breath.

"James I-" she stopped for a moment as she started to cry, and wiped her eyes with a handkerchief "I don't know how to tell you this but-"

"But what?" James accidently interrupted as he began to feel panicky over what his mother was about to tell him.

"As you know I've been ill for some time now, and I've had to visit the clinics, and doctors and having to take all this medication." she paused trying to remain calm.

"Yes?"

"James-" Victoria turned her head, looking at her son eye to eye. "I visited the hospital this morning and... and it's been confirmed that I have _breast cancer_."

Without even controlling himself James's arms dropped loudly onto the sofa and his heart sank. "B-b-b-breast cancer?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed hugging him tightly "They're still unsure wether its terminal or can be curned but I do have cancer."

"Oh my god-" his voice was starting to sound choked as he burst into tears "Mum I'm so sorry!"

When James returned to his bedroom he threw his stuff onto the floor and lay on the bed, placing a pillow over his face as he cried loudly, unable to let the revelation of his mother's illness sink in properly.

"This cant be happening!" he cried in a muffled tone under his pillow "This cant be happening!"

...

A short time later, James finally decided to open up the envelope Kotomi had given him. After rubbing his eyes which were still wet and teary he searched his pockets, and found the envelope which had become slightly crumpled.

Giving another sigh he took a look at the time using his phone. The time read at _9:30PM_ half an hour earlier than he was intended to read it but, he shrugged it off thinking that opening it this much earlier wouldn't affect him too much.

He opened it up and pulled out a piece of paper inside. The piece of paper was a letter, and as he read it his eye's widened and his arms began to shake slightly.

 _Dear James:_

 _I want to thank you so much for being there for me, you really are a good friend! I'm honestly still finding it hard to believe that such a nice and wonderful person such as you would view a girl like me in a romantic way, but never the less I'm happy to have gone out with you and at least tried to make our relationship work._

 _But alas you and I will be parting ways tonight. I've tried for years to deny the death of my parents. A death that I cant help but feel, I caused and the pressure has all become far too much!_

 _So I'm writing this letter to you James. Please whatever happens throughout your life please remember that even in death I'll always love you, but you deserve better than me._

 _If an afterlife exists I'll see you there I suppose._

 _Love, Kotomi xxx_

He crumpled up the letter and threw it aside. Something was wrong.

" _Even in death I'll always love you_." what did that mean?! He thought for a moment seriously considering what was going through his head. Without thinking anything else he stood up and rushed out of his bedroom and headed towards the door, leaving the flat as fast as he could, bare foot and not caring if his mother or Kappei tried to stop him.

"Please god!" he huffed as he ran down the stairs "Please god, don't tell me she's doing what I think she's doing!"

...

Eventually he reached the home of Kotomi, without even daring to stop and catch his breath he snuck back into her garden, which was more difficult this time due to the lack of light from the darkening sky and half-moon. He hurriedly opened the back door and raced up the stairs.

"KOTOMI!_" He shouted loudly, his voice echoing throughout the house. He reached the door where he and Okazaki had found her earlier and turned the knob. As he rushed inside his eye's were met with a sight of absolute horror, with any remaining noise being drowned out by a blood curdling screaming.

There in the center of the room was Kotomi, hanging lifeless in mid-air with a rope tied around her neck.

 **To be continued.**

 **Well this is definitely my longest chapter in a while, and apologizes for the grimness of it.**

 **But for now I hope everyone has a good christmas and new year!**


	49. Chapter 48: Flood of Pain

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 48: Flood of pain.**

As quickly as possible James rushed over towards Kotomi, attempting to remove the rope wrapped tightly around her throat.

He couldn't do it. The rope was too tight and any attempt to loosen the knot could make it even tighter. He hurriedly rushed downstairs into the kitchen obtaining a pair of scissors and headed back upstairs.

With extreme caution he cut the rope, steadily holding Kotomi by the waist to prevent her falling to the floor. He struggled to keep hold of her due to her sheer weight and very carefully placed her flat on the ground.

His heart pounded with panic as he crouched down and kneeled over her to find any signs that Kotomi was still alive, weather it was either a faint breathing it a heartbeat.

He placed his ear onto her chest and could hear a faint heartbeat and faint breathing.

He tried to remain calm as he pondered what he should do next:

Either attempt mouth to mouth recovery or phone an ambulance.

James had never taken medical classes at all in his lifetime and attempting mouth to mouth for the first time could have little to no effect, but whilst he awaited the ambulance he should at least attempt some form of recovery.

He quickly searched his pockets hoping that he hadnt forgotten his phone in the hurry to her house (which he had!)

He ran downstairs where he knew an old cord-phone hung on the wall by the front door. Once he'd phoned up the ambulance and given them all the necessary details he ran back upstairs.

Kotomi was still lying unconscious on the floor. Crouching down over her he placed his hands onto her chest and pressed down.

" _One-Two-Three-_ "

And opened up her mouth place his mouth around hers to bring air into her lungs. He did this several times each time checking for a heartbeat and regular breathing but nothing seemed to work.

Soon he could hear the loud siren of the ambulance outside and headed downstairs right as there was a loud knock on the door. He opened it and was greeted by a team of four paramedics dressed in all white.

James quickly moved out of the way and pointed upstairs.

"She's up their first bedroom on the left!"

The paramedics rushed upstairs carrying a stretcher followed by two policemen, one of whom grabbed James by the shoulder.

"Gonna need you to come with us lad-"

James's mind instantly began to buzz with various scenarios.

 _Would they think he tried to kill Kotomi?_

 _Would he go to prison?_

 _What about his mum?!_

"In order to give us a statement." the policeman finished.

"O-of course!" James gave a loud sigh feeling slightly less panicky.

Giving a faint nod he followed the police outside to their car.

" _JAMES!_ "

James and the two policemen turned their heads around looking for the source of the voice, when Sekai suddenly appeared running towards them dressed in a dark green dressing-gown.

One of the policemen hurriedly went to stop Sekai in her tracks.

"Miss please step away from the scene." He instructed in a monotone voice, grabbing hold of her by the waist moving her away.

" _JAMES WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ICHINOSE?!_ " She shouted at the top of her lungs. As James entered the back-seat of the car he saw the paramedics bring down the stretcher from inside the house with Kotomi completely covered up with a black blanket.

He watched as she was carefully moved into the back of the ambulance.

" _SEKAI!_ " He shouted " _GET A BUS TO THE HOSPITAL IN THE NEXT CITY!_ "

The door was slammed shut, the first policeman entered the driver's seat and signalled for his college to follow him. The second policeman released Sekai and hurriedly ran towards the car.

" _I'LL MAKE SURE ICHINOSE'S OK!_ " She shouted to James quickly running off presumably to find a bus.

...

James was taken to the police-station where he was placed in a small room with only table and a dim flickering light with the rest of the room being filled with total endless blackness.

One of the policemen stood by the door whilst a large bald man dressed in a white suite stat at the other side of the table holding a tape recorder.

James gave a fairly detailed account of what had transpired in the lead up to Kotomi's attempted suicide and what had occurred in the run up to the arrival of the ambulance. He explained about Kotomi's note and whilst he didn't have it on his person he would bring it to the police tomorrow for evidence.

...

After almost an hour James had finally given a small statement, the man in white stopped the tape recorder and left the room along with the guard, leaving James on his own.

"Please be alive Kotomi! _PLEASE!_ "

...

Later James was driven up to the hospital being escorted by the police who were to drive him back to the flat afterwards to retrieve the note.

The policemen waited in the reception area whilst James walked upstairs to find Kotomi having been given directions by the receptionist.

He couldn't help but think as he walked through the corridors that the place was familiar to him despite never having set foot in this hospital before now...

...

He soon found himself in Sekai's arms upon finding her as she embraced him in a tight hug.

"H-how-" James cleared his throat as he felt it tighten. He could hear his heart pound in his ears and his body began to shiver and fill with butterflies. "How is she?"

"S-she's alright!" Sekai replied, her voice sounding shaky and choked up. It was obvious that she'd spent the past time crying,

"She's lying in bed right now. I briefly spoke with her to see if she was ok."

She released him from the hug, removed her fogged up glasses and cleaned them wiping her eyes with her sleeve before placing her glasses back onto her face and finally turned her attention to the door. "That was about half an hour ago."

"Come on." James muttered walking towards the door pushing it open. Inside eight beds in total filled the room with four on either side of the wall's with a small television set placed in the corner broadcasting the nightly news. Next to it were a large pair of olive-green curtains drawn across the window to conceal the dark starry night sky.

Kotomi lay silently near the curtains covered with a white blanket with her head resting on a pillow. The two walked over towards her instantly noting that she was pretending to be asleep.

"Ichinose we know you're awake!" Sekai snapped clapping her hands together.

"Dont shout at her Sekai!" protested James.

Reluctantly Kotomi slouched herself up and turned to James and Sekai . A red mark curled around her neck where the rope had been and she quickly tried to cover it by gently placing her hand around her throat.

The two stood by her for a few moments, Sekai with an angry frown and James with a look of concern. Kotomi kept her eyes in another direction not wanting to look at her boyfriend directly in the face.

Clearing her throat Sekai impatiently began to tap the floor with her foot. "Well Ichinose?"

Kotomi didn't reply, keeping her eyeline away from them.

" _ICHINOSE!_ " Sekai had finally lost patience with Kotomi slamming her hand onto the wall alarming and awakening some of the other patients. " _WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF?!"_

Kotomi suddenly started whimpering like a frightened puppy and threw her blanket over herself in a pathetic attempt to hide.

"Sekai stop it!" James shouted grabbing her by the shoulder which was instantly and forcefully thrown off.

" _JAMES BUTTON IT! YOU'RE ONLY GONNA LET HER OFF WHEN SHE NEEDS TO FACE THE CONSEQUENCES FOR HER STUPIDITY!_ "

"Please!" Kotomi shouted in a muffled voice under the blanket "Please stop it!" she suddenly began to burst into tears. James instantly crouched down beside her grasping her hand tightly, then he removed the blanket and gently turned Kotomi's head to his direction so that they could look at each other eye to eye.

"Kotomi-" He said calmly " _Why?_ What made you want to kill yourself?"

Kotomi hesitated for a brief moment her eyes rolling across the room until she mustered up the courage to answer and took a deep breath.

"I wanted to be with my parents." Came the reply "I've felt guilty about their deaths for ten years now and I wanted desperately the opportunity to apologize to them!"

"I see-" Sekai interrupted The bus accident this morning made you go into shock, flooding back all the repressed feelings of guilt and denial tenfold causing you to feel this way."

Kotomi replied with a gentle nod "I've often said that I don't believe in any sort of afterlife but I started to think what if their is an afterlife! What if there is an opportunity to see my parents again!"

"And what about the rest of us?!" Sekai snapped "What about James?" He's your boyfriend for christ sake!"

Kotomi's eyes widened in shock "H-how did you-"

"She figured it out and I confirmed it." Replied James.

"Well Ichinose?" Sekai snapped her fingers impatiently.

"You deserve better than me James!" Kotomi exclaimed, with tears running down her face "I'm a terrible girlfriend! People like Sekai or Ryou are a better match for you! Just leave-"

" _SHUT UP!_ " James shouted grabbing her by the shoulders " _JUST SHUT UP YOU STUPID IDIOT! YOUR THE GIRL I LOVE! YOUR MY GIRLFRIEND AND NO ONE IS GONNA REPLACE YOU!_ "

Sekai suddenly became aware that all this noise was beginning to disturb the other patients. "James I think it's time we left!"

He gave Kotomi a kiss on the cheek before being dragged out of the room by Sekai.

...

James hugged Sekai tightly crying his eye's out loudly whilst doing so. "Ssshh" Sekai whistled in a soothing tone trying to calm him "It's ok James, just let it all out."

"T-t-thank you Sekai!" James choked.

After calming down they made their way back down to the reception area.

"I know you don't want to hear it James but What Ichinose did was unbelievably selfish!" But surprisingly James nodded in agreement. "Yes, I mean it's understandable but even so, also I don't know what she thinks a relationship is but it's not something that's interchangeable!"

"Don't worry she's just in a depressive state of mind." Sekai attempted to reassure him. "She'll get over it, in fact I bet right now she's wishing she were in your arms!"

James blushed giving a small chuckle "Thanks but even so I wonder how much longer this relationship is going to last..."

He explained about his mother's breast cancer and the strong possibility that if it were to get worse and she were to die he'd be forced to move back to england and live with his dad who he wasn't exactly on good terms with.

"I'm sorry!" Sekai gasped.

"It's fine." James murmured.

"listen-" Sekai said as she clung onto his arm "I'm sure your mum will be ok! These things just kinda take time you know? She'll recover!"

"Thanks Sekai!" James murmured "You're a good friend."

Her cheeks suddenly blushed a light shade of pink and her glasses fogged up. "Speaking of friends-" she said stopping to take off her glasses and wipe them clean.

"Yeah?" James raised an eyebrow.

"Well the thing is-" She paused for a moment biting her lower lip. "I was wrong about Ichinose! Before I thought she was an antisocial person who thought she was better than everyone, but since meeting you it's opened my eye's to how much I misjudged her. She's not anti-social she's a sweet, kind and innocent girl!"

She stopped for a moment to take a breather. "My point is I'd like to become proper friends with her although I would understand if she said no considering the fact that I've been nothing but a bully towards her for the past few years."

James gave a faint chuckle patting her on the head making her cheeks an even darker shade of red.

"Sekai, Kotomi's not the sort to hold grudges so I'm positive she'd accept you as a friend! It's Hana and Chiaki that are the main concern."

"Never mind those two!" She shrugged "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!"

"While we're on the subject-" James cleared his throat "What was that whole thing about me being your boyfriend suppose to accomplish?"

"O-oh yeah, hehe-" she started playing with the one dyed streak of blue hair on her forehead. "W-well you see..." she stopped for a moment gulping loudly as her voice became a nervous whisper.

"I was sort of manipulating you and Ichinose. Not in a bad way! You see the two of you were keeping your distance from each other and unsure about how you both felt so I thought if I made Ichinose jealous she'd admit her love for you and your relationship would be back on track!"

James remained silent.

"I-" Sekai but her lower lip as her heart pumped loudly in her chest "I understand if you hate me now and I don't blame you. It really was a stupid plan and may have only made things worse."

He continued to remain silent as they came sooner and sooner to the end of their walk. "Sekai-" James took a deep breath trying to remain calm. "Yes, it was a stupid idea but thank you!"

He turned to her and smiled "Thank you for at least trying!"

Sekai's glasses instantly fogged up and she glanced away from him.

"You ok?" He asked concerned.

"Y-yes!" She stuttered in a high pitched tone "It's nothing!"

...

Whilst the police were not a taxi service, given the circumstances they thought it best to drive Sekai home but would first drive to James's flat to collect Kotomi's note for their investigation, something that James wasn't looking forward to.

What would his mother think?

Granted the situation would be explained to her but having just run off suddenly without a word and been gone for almost three hours she would of course be worried sick and with James being escorted by the police she'd definitely think he'd been involved in something dodgy like a robbery or drugs!

James unclipped his seatbelt as they reached the flat, One of the policemen exited the car and opened the door for him. Before he left he turned his attention to Sekai.

"Well..." he paused for a moment. "I'll see you tomorrow I guess."

Sekai gave a slight nod "Yeah. Just take care ok? Ichinose will be fine!"

She grabbed him by the collar pulled him forward and kissed him on the lips much to the surprise of James. "Please don't take that the wrong way!" She squealed in a high pitched voice as her cheeks blushed a dark red. She then pushed him outside and slammed the door shut, she then placed her hand onto her chest feeling her heart race violently and took a few deep breaths.

"Sleep well James!" She thought watching him climb the stairs.

"He your boyfriend miss?" the second policeman asked giving her a fright having forgotten he was even there.

"N-no!" She stuttered.

"But I'd be one lucky girl if he was!" She thought.

...

Upon reaching the flat James's suspicions had not been entirely correct. While yes Victoria was absolutely furious with him her understand of the situation was made clear.

She had seen and read Kotomi's letter and had scolded James for not telling her where he had run off to and leaving without any sort of contact.

She made the policeman a cup of tea as he explained James's efforts to save Kotomi which amazed herself and Kappei.

"If we need anything else we'll call." the policeman said quickly writing down the address onto a little note-pad before placing it into his front pocket. After he left James and Victoria sat silently side by side on the sofa.

"Kappei." Victoria cleared her throat. "I would like a word with my son in private please."

Without another word Kappei left the room.

"So-" She turned her head facing her son eye to eye. "You have a girlfriend?"

"Yes." He nodded giving a light blush. "We've been going out for a couple weeks now. I didn't say anything to you because Kotomi and I thought it best to keep out relationship a secret in case things didn't work out between us."

"I see." Victoria replied. "And have I met this Kotomi girl before?"

James nodded "Yes, about a month or so ago. I went into town with her for a bit and dropped off home to get my wallet and you thought she was taking advantage of me. Kind of like what happened with Kyou but no where near as violent!"

"And when Kotomi recovers do you mind if I meet her?"

"Of course." He nodded "I'll arrange for you two too meet sometime."

"Good!" Victoria smiled. "Now off to bed with you."

"Yes mother." he replied standing up from the chair leaving the room for his bedroom.

"My boy is growing up!" She chuckled.

...

As James fell flat onto his bed he burst into tears burying his head into his pillow. It would be another long sleepless night...

 **To be continued.**


	50. Chapter 49: Pain grief and dispair

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 49: Pain, Grief and Dispair.**

That morning every newspaper in the country had poor Kotomi's attempted suicide as front page news.

 **ICHINOSE'S DAUGHTER SAVED FROM SUICIDE!**

The paper's had covered the event in sucnificant detail, including James's attempt to save her although he had not been mentioned by name in order to avoid the attention of the press. The entire school of course was buzzing with gossip, rumor and speculation over what had happened.

 _"Why did she do it?"_

 _"Will she come back to school?"_

 _"Always thought she was weird. It's the quiet ones that snap, they always do!"_

These were just some of the things that people were talking about, and as she made her way to school Sekai Tsugumi was an emotional wreck, trying to bottle up and suppress her emotions. She struggled to concentrait during class and her emotional stress only became worse during the first break.

"It's a damn shame that, the rope didnt snap her neck!" Hana laughed, giving a high five to Chiaki.

"Yeah!" Chiaki chuckled. "At least that'd be rid of one worthless life!"

As the two girls became red in the face from laughing so much, the noise echoing loudly inside their empty classroom Sekai had finally had engouth, rushing to her feet and slamming her fist onto the table, making the pair jump out of their skins.

" _STOP IT!_ " She shouted at the top of her lungs. " _BOTH OF YOU JUST SHUT UP AND STOP IT!_ "

The two girls staired open mouthed at Sekai, as she took a few deep breaths,and adjusted her glasses trying to calm down.

"Look-" Sekai said calmly sitting back down and rubbing her now sore fist. "Dont you think that pherhaps we've misjudged Ichinose and, maybe should consider becoming friends with her?"

The two bullies mouths slowly crept into chesire-cat like smiles. They started to giggle and covered their mouths trying to prevent this, with their shoulders begining to shake violently, their noses snorting loudly. Eventually they couldnt hold it in any longer and burst into another fit of hysterical laughter.

"Oh screw you guys!" Sekai, scoffed hurridly leaving the classroom in anger.

"gee-" Hana sighed exhailing a deep breath after finally calming down. "Sekai really has changed since meeting _that loser_ , James."

"Yep!" Chiaki nodded in agreement "Wanting to be friends with Ichinose was the last straw!"

"We'll beat her up soon and then deal with the other two!"

The two then proceeded to pinki-swear in agreement, giggling to each other.

Their friendship with Sekai was over but she would remain unaware of this until the last possible moment...

...

After crying for a brief period in the bathroom, Sekai wiped her eyes, adjusted her glasses and left. The corridors were a wave of excitment as students walked left and right engaging in gossip and other typical teenage activities. Turning on her heal, she began to walk through the corridor's intending to head outside for some fresh air.

"Sekai!"

She immedietly turned her head and saw Ryou walking towards her.

"Oh hi!" She gestured a wave, giving a fake smile. "Whats up?"

"Nothing really." Ryou replied. "Just noticed, you so I thought maybe we could just talk and maybe catch up?"

"Sure!" She smiled, giving a faint chuckle. "Let's head outside."

...

The two were sat on a bench in the ground's. They spent much of their conversation discussing their lives over the past several years, since leaving primary school as well as their current interest's, hobbies and lastly their future plans.

"That's great that you wanna be a nurse!" Sekai exclaimed in amazement. "So how are things going with the Drama-Club? Your a memeber right?"

"No-" Ryou shook her head. "At least not offically but I try to help out when I can. We've been using the Drama-Club room as a sort of hub while we helped Kotomi..." Her voice slowly began to trail off into a faint, almost silent whisper, and her eyes became red and watery,suddenly bursting into a fit of tears, and quickly covered her face.

"O-oh, Kotomi!" She whaled in a muffled voice.

Gently Sekai placed her arm around Ryou's shoulder. "It's ok!" She whispered. "You dont need to hold it in anymore!" Despite this she, herself was resisting the urge into tears again.

"I-I-I-Cant believe she'd do something like that! It just seems impossible!"

Ryou explained that herself and the others had easily come to the conclusion that James had been the one who had saved Kotomi.

"He's understandibly wanting time alone. Even during class the teacher gave him the oppertunity to work outside of the classroom."

"Have any of you spoken to him?"

Ryou shook her head. "No."

"Right." Sekai clapped her hands in determination "We'll try to talk to him during lunch. He's hurting and needs someone to support and comfort him."

"That's a good idea!" Ryou smiled. "But maybe it should just be you. You are his _girlfriend_ after all, and I'd only get in the way."

Upon the mention of her outlandish lie, Sekai instantly felt her cheeks blush with embarassment.

" _I lied_."

Ryou gave a faint, almost excited gasp at the mention of those words. "What?"

"I lied ok!" Sekai exclaimed "I made it up!"

"Sekai-" Ryou paused for a brief moment, trying to process the news. "Why? Why did you lie?"

"W-well I-" She struggled to find an awsner and was faced with the option of either lying again, or revealing the secret of James and Kotomi's relationship.

"Oh I know!" Ryou exclaimed, interupting Sekai's train of thought. "It's James's mum isnt it? Her illness has been getting worse and he wanted to keep it private. That would explain why he's been distant from all of us latly.

"Um... Yeah!" Sekai replied rather uncovincingly. "Yeah thats the reason!"

The two remained silent for a brief moment, both stairing at the ground and blushing faintly.

"So do you like James in a romantic way?" Ryou asked, breaking the silence.

Sekai instantly began to feel her cheeks blushing deep in red, her heartbeat suddenly increasing loudly, pounding through her ears.

"I-I dont know." She replied, turning her head to face Ryou. "I've never been in love before so it _could_ be an infatuation, but recently I've been going through changes. I blush a lot, my chest hurts I get all tingly and nervous and I'm constantly thinking about him. Those things only happen whenever I am around James.

"Thats exactly how I feel!" Ryou exclaimed, shocked.

"Wait!-" Sekai gasped. "Your in love with James?"

"Ack!" Ryou instantly covered her face with her hands. "Y-yes!" She replied in a muffled voice. "I've been in love with him for a while now. It's actually a relief to finally be able to talk to someone about it."

"Oh Ryou!" Sekai thought in her head, knowing that the situation would only lead to heartbreak.

Now she felt put on the spot in the situation, and suddenly faced a moral dillema. Should she just let events unfold and wait for Ryou to get her heart broken or intervine now and tell her of James's releationship with Kotomi.

After thinking it over for a few moments, she cleared her throat and prepared to reveal the news.

"Um... look Ryou-"

"You know Sekai-" Ryou interupted suddenly. "You and I arent so different, when you get down to it. I've really enjoyed our time together, maybe we could make this a regular thing?"

"Y-yeah sure!" Sekai replied giving a faint blush. "I'll be honest, I've always liked you Ryou. Even back in the day you always seemed like a fun person and someone who was easy to get along with!"

"Well I always wanted to be your friend!" Ryou replied smiling, with her voice suddenly becoming fainter and her smiling turning into a look of regret and sadness. " _But sis wouldnt allow it._ "

"But you say Kyou has changed now right?"

Ryou gave a quick nod. "She still has her agressive moment's but she's nothing like the horrible person she was before. I really think you two should talk things over."

"No!" Sekai exclaimed suddenly standing up from the bench. "Look I'm ok with you but Kyou is a no, no!"

"Sekai please-"

"No I dont wanna hear it!"

 **DING DONG DANG DONG!**

The bell suddenly rang out all throughout the school and hurridly brushed themselves off.

"I'd better get to class!" Sekai exclaimed whilst adjusting her glasses. "I'll meet you and James in your classroom at lunch Ok? Just _dont_ bring Kyou!"

"O-of course!" Ryou stuttered nervously.

...

Sekai raced to class, not wanting to ruin her almost spotless record of never being late to class.

"Oh god!" She wheezed, coughing as she clutched her heaving chest. "Cant breath!" Watching from the view of their front-row seats were Hana and Chiaki. The two gave quick glances towards one another and chuckled. They stood up from their seat's, the sound of the metal legs scraping loudly across the floor much to the annoyance of others.

They rushed over towards their former friend, greeting her with fake smiles. "You alright Sekai? Chiaki asked, trying to sound as convincing as she could.

"Yeah!" Sekai replied, feeling her head spinning. "Just need a moment to catch my breath!"

"Well you'd better get inside before Mr. Tsbaki arrives!"

"True!" Sekai gasped, giving a faint chuckle. As she began to walk inside the classroom, Chiaki as disgreetly as she could tripped Sekai up with her leg, causing her to fall face down onto the hard ground.

"Ah crap!" She mumbled, hurridly searching in vain for her glasses which had fallen from her face leaving her completly blind. As other students either chuckled at the scene or stood up from their chairs in concern, Hana signalled for them to remain seated.

"Whoa Sekai!" Hana chuckled. "You must really be feeling light-headed to be able to fall over like that!"

She then placed her shoe on top of Sekai's glasses and with only a small amount of pressure broke the left lense, leaving a large and very noticible crack.

"Aww, Sekai you broke your glasses in the fall!" Chiaki exclaimed giving a wink, and a cheeky grin towards Hana. She then passed the damaged glasses back to Sekai. She placed them upon her face and the broken lense instantly became worse as it fell off and hit the floor shattering into several tiny pieces.

"Oh no!" She cried. "My parents are gonna kill me!"

"Dont you have a spare pair?" Hana asked.

"Yes but they're at home!" Sekai replied, angrily stomping towards her seat, sitting down and burying her head in complete and utter frustration.

...

The next two hours were hell for Sekai. Practiclly blind in her left eye, she struggled to pay attention in class as she developed a painful headache and seriously considered switching from glasses to contacts.

...

Once the bell had rung for lunch Sekai left the classroom quickly in order to meet with James and Ryou.

"Sekai!" Hana and Chiaki both shouted from their classroom as they watched her move further and further down the corridor. "Where are you going?"

"There's something important, I have to do!" She replied not bothering to turn her head as she addressed them. "I'll talk to you guys later!"

She quickly arrived at the almost empty classroom. As she peered inside she instantly spotted Ryou and James sitting in the bottom corner of the classroom beside the windows.

"Hey guys!" She whispered quietly. James remained still and motionless, hands on his chin, his eyes stairing blankly at the desk. Ryou turned her head, with her face immedietly becoming a look of concern.

"Sekai!" She gasped. "What happened to your glasses?!"

"Never mind!" Sekai snapped. "Dont worry about it!" She then picked up a chair, moved it over towards the two and sat down.

"James-" She cleared her throat. "James, look at me! How have you been?"

keeping his eye's on the table he proceeded to give an uninteligable reply.

"He's been like this all day." Ryou whispered.

"James-" Sekai continued. "Ichinose is fine. The papers said she was taken out of the hospital this morning and is staying at her home for a while."

"Well I'm glad she's safe-" James replied, making the two girls smile slightly due to the fact that their friend was at last talking. "But I'm still worried about her."

"We're all worried about her." Ryou said. "I was thinking, because it's Kotomi's birthday in a few days, we should pull together and buy her a gift!"

"Yeah!" Sekai exclaimed, her eye's widening with excitment. "We'll do it today after school!"

"W-well I-I dont actually have any money on me." Ryou stuttered quietly.

"Nor do I." James shrugged.

"Oh god!" Sekai facepalmed. "I'm surrounded by idio-" She quickly stopped herself and cleared her throat. "Look, after school go to your homes and get some money. Then head into town and we'll rendezvous at Moth-Burger."

"Sure thing!" James gave a thumbs up.

"That's a great idea!" Ryou agreed. "Now that's all settled, how about we have lunch?"

"Sure thing." James replied, rumaging through his bag, bringing out a plastic bag removing from it a ham-sandwhich wrapped in cling-film while Ryou brought out a small lime coloured bento lunch box.

"What are you having for lunch Sekai?" Ryou asked.

"I kinda forgot. I'll just wait till I get home."

"Well you and I can share if you wish? I actually made this boxed lunch myself and there's more than engouth food to go around."

"You sure?" Sekai raised an eyebrow in concern.

"Of course!" Ryou chuckled. "I'd hate for a friend of mine to go hungry.

"Well if your sure." She sighed and glanced over to James. "Do you want to try some?"

"Yeah sure." James replied.

Ryou opened up the bento box and inside were a variety of contents. _Fried chicken wrapped in bacon, rice balls,pieces of fish and prawns_. Using her chop-sticks she picked up a piece of fried chicken wrapped in bacon and gave Sekai and James one piece each.

"I hope it's good!" Ryou smiled nervously.

They placed the food in their mouths and began to chew. The food had a very strange taste, something wasnt right. The texture seemed off somehow and the middle was strikingly cold. They both tried to hide the level's of discomfort on their faces and with great difficulty swallowed the food down their throats, sending chills down their spines.

"How was it?" Ryou asked, noticing their looks of discomfort.

"W-well-" Sekai struggled to speak, feeling a lump in her throat.

"It-it was-" James quickly began to feel a lump in his throat too.

They very quickly stood up,rushed towards the windows and struggled to open them. They eventually got one open and stuck their heads outside and proceeded to vomit violently.

"Gee thanks!" Shouted an annoyed student, down below.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry!" Ryou shriked. "I should have tested it first!"

"It's fine." Sekai coughed, wiping her mouth. "It was your first time after all."

"You guys can have my lunch." James said as he began to unwrap his ham-sandwhich. "I can eat when I get home."

...

A short time later the bell rang across the school and Sekai hurridly prepared to leave. "Well I gotta say, I really enjoyed our time together!" She chuckled hurridly leaving but suddenly popping her head back inside the classroom. "See you both this afternoon!" and left.

Moments later James's phone buzzed, signifying that he had recived a text. he brought his phone out of his pocket and lit up the screen.

 _ **One text from Sekai Tsugumi.**_

 _ **You need to man up and tell Ryou about your relationship with Ichinose!**_

James put his phone back inside his pocket, and glanced at Ryou. He didnt want to tell her yet, now wasnt the right time especially considering recent events.

...

A few hours later, Sekai paciently awaited the two whilst standing outside Moth-Burger, still dressed in her school uniform. Her foot tapped impaciently as she checked her watch. "Come on guys where are you?" She was about to rumage through her pocket's for her phone when in the corner of her eye. she spotted the two coming down the street.

"Ah there you two are!" She called over to them, trying not to grin and instead show an expression of annoyance. "It's about time!"

"Sorry!" James replied, as he and Ryou ran towards her. "Ryou and I just kinda got caught up talking I guess!"

"We're really sorry!" Ryou bowed her head.

"Dont worry about it!" Sekai assured them, gently biting her lower lip, with her face becoming a look of concern.

"So... What were you talking about?"

"Well we talked about Kotomi-" James replied, causing Sekai to clench her fist's as she glanced at Ryou.

"And what we'd get her for her birthday gift!" he finished causing Sekai's heart to sink with disappointment. "I see." She replied. Was there _anything else_ you talked about?"

Ryou and James looked at each other and then turned back to Sekai. "No."

"Ugh god!" She grumbled quietly. "So what's the plan?"

"Well James told me that Kotomi likes stuffed toy's-" Ryou answered. "So I thought I'd get her a teddy bear."

"That's great!" Sekai smiled. "What about you James?"

"Well I thought it'd be nice to give her a mobile phone so that we can all keep in touch." James blushed.

"Nice!" Sekai chuckled.

"So what will you be getting her Sekai?" Ryou asked.

"W-well-" Sekai stuttered, adjusting her glasses. "I was thinking of giving her a violin instruction booklet. So that she has a guide to practice different violin pieces."

"That sounds great!" Ryou exclaimed, with a great amount of enthusiasum as she clapped her hands together.

...

The three friend's spent the next, couple hours, searching for gift's, eventually finding their respective items, bought some tape and wrapping paper and wrapped up their gifts.

Once done they began to part ways at the bus station.

"Well ladies!" James exclaimed cheerfully. ""I'll see you both tomorrow!"

"So cheesy!" Sekai snorted. "Yeah, see you!"

"Bye!" Ryou waved.

"By the way-" Sekai cleared her throat, wrapping her arms around Ryou, making her blush. "Is there _anything_ you want to say to Ryou, James?"

"Um..." He scratched his head unsure of what to say. "Hope you get home safe Ryou (?)" he replied, uncertain.

"Ugh, god!" Sekai grumbled, giving another facepalm.

"See you!" He gave a final wave, and headed on his way.

"Sekai-" Ryou murmered. "What was that about?"

"Never mind." Sekai replied, adjusting her glasses as she removed her grasp around Ryou and patted her on the head.

"D-do you think-" Ryou stuttered, as her voice became a nervous whisper, her cheeks becoming a dark shade of red. "That this would have been a good opportunity to ask james out?"

"A-ah- well-" Sekai paused biting her lower lip, almost to the point of drawing blood. Her struggle to keep James's secret was now reaching close to breaking point. Encouraging Ryou to pursure her feelings for her crush would only lead to heartbreak but discouraging her would lead to the big question.

" _Why?_ "

And that why would only open up a another can of worms.

"Um... Y-y-y-you should ask him out in private!" Sekai stuttered, placing her arm's around her waist as her stomach began to tingle with a great amount of guilt. "Asking him out in front of friends's would only make it more awkward."

"I'm so sorry Ryou!" She cried in her thoughts.

Ryou remained silent for a few moments before breaking out into a cheerful smile. "Your right Sekai! I asked James if he wanted to see a movie sometime, so if I muster up enougth courage I should be able to ask him out during that event!"

"Y-yeah!" Sekai choked, trying not to cry. "Good idea!"

She was suddenly embraced in a tight from Ryou. "I'm glad that we're friends Sekai! Even if you want nothing to do with sis, I hope that we can remain friends for a long time!"

"Yeah." Sekai agreed. "You mean a lot to me!"

The bus slowly crept up and came to a sudden stop.

"Well see you tomorrow Sekai!" Ryou exclaimed, releasing the two from the hug and entered the bus. She paid for her ticket, sat down and gave one final wave to Sekai before being driven off down the road.

"bye Ryou." Sekai whispered, placing her hand on her chest. "And I'm sorry!" She proceeded to bring out her phone and hurridly sent James a text.

" _ **YOUR AN IDIOT!**_ " The text read.

...

Later as the day slowly turned into night Sekai reached her home. She turned her head and looked up at the house from across the street.

 _Kotomi's home._

She noticed someone working at the front garden. She couldnt exactly make out the face but she knew that it was one of Kotomi's friends from the Drama-Club. She gave a faint smile, knowing that Kotomi's friends were trying to help her out in whatever way possible.

"Sleep well Ichinose." She thought, taking one final look at the house.

 _ **To be continued.**_

 _ **Author's Note:**_

 _ **Word's cannot express how sorry I am at the amount of time it's taken to get this chapter posted, having posted the last one back in January 31st!**_

 _ **Unfortunatly due to life, computer issues, college work and improving my social life I've been unable to work on the story but now that summer is here I should have much more free time to write!**_

 _ **I also appologize for any spelling mistakes in this chapter since I dont currently have any sort of editing sortware.**_

 _ **Hope this chapter was satisfactory after months of delay!**_


	51. Chapter 50: passion and determination

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 50: Her passion and determination.**

As Sekai entered her home she took a deep breath, feeling tired, exhausted and irritated by her one blind eye from her broken lense.

"Evening Miss. Tsugumi." A female voice called out, sporting an american accent. A woman entered the hallway, probably early to mid thirties with long, flowing shiny raven hair with blood red eyes, dressed in a green button up shirt and black trousers.

"E-evening Maurecia!" Sekai stuttered, bowing her head.

 _Maurecia Collins_ was an old friend of Sekai's parent's, having met almost twenty years ago in high school during a foreign exchange program.

Giving a faint frown of disiproval Maurecia placed her arms around her waiste. "What time do you call-" Her eye's widened upon noticing her broken glasses. "What happened to you?!"

Sekai rolled her eye's in annoyance at the over protectiveness of her house keeper and guardian. "It's nothing!" She tried to assure her. "I just tripped and fell that's all."

Maurecia proceeded to give another hardened frown. "Miss. Tsugumi, your home late and your glasses are broken. _What happened?!_ "

"Nothing. I was just out with friends! I did text you, saying I'd be back late!" She rumaged through her pocket's and brought out her phone. She pressed a few button's before passing it over to Maurecia who examined it.

"I see." She murmered. "Signal's must be playing up again." and passed the phone back to Sekai.

She sighed, placing her hand onto her chest, before embracing Sekai in a hug. "Dont worry me like that again Miss. Tsugumi! I've watched over you since the day you were born. Your almost like a daughter to me and I couldnt live with myself if something happened to you. Plus your parents would be very upset."

The two seperated from the hug, with Maurecia proceeding to give Sekai a pat on the head.

"I take it mum and dad are gone?" Sekai asked.

Maurecia nodded. "They left for Tokyo this afternoon to visit your brother."

"I see." Sekai sighed relived that she wouldnt be scolded by her parents, for her broken glasses.

"Your spare pair is, in your bedroom yes?"

"Yes, but I'll get them." Sekai nodded. "And for the millionth time you can just call me Sekai."

"As you wish-" Maurecia's lip's slowly crept into a smile. "Miss. Tsugumi."

The two proceeded to burst into a fit of laughter.

 _..._

Sekai's bedroom was located in the attic at the top of the house. It was the largest room in the house next to her parent's but extremely cluttered and crowded. Endless amounts of boxes filled with past artworks filled the room, along with brushes and paints scattered all around the floor. A dim light lit the room with the bright light of the moon adding a mysterious atmosphere to the place. Her bed lay near the window next to a large mirror left over from the previous occupants decades earlier. Sekai stood up looked at the large mirror with Maurecia standing behind her. She gave a sigh of relief, placing her spare pair of glasses over her face, finally being able to see clearly again.

"I'll have your broken pair replaced tomorrow." Maurecia said.

"Thanks." Sekai replied, turning her head to face her. "Do you mind _getting_ _undressed?_ "

"Ah." Maurecia grinned. "Your wanting to practice your painting again?"

She nodded, clearing her throat. "Yeah. I need something to take my mind off things."

"I see." Maurecia murmmered, unbuttoning his shirt. "What's stressed you out this time?"

"Well you see there's this guy-"

" _James_ , I take it?"

Sekai gave an annoyed sigh. "Yes!"

"Carry on."

"Well the thing is-" She continued, whilst walking towards her large collection of boxes to search for a blank canvas. "He has a girlfriend, and dosnt want anyone to know-"

"So how do _you_ know?" Maurecia raised an eyebrow, whilst removing her trousers.

"I figured out they were dating. Anyway my friend Ryou likes him, but dosnt know he's in a relationship, so the dillema is _do I_ intervine and tell her _or_ do I just wait for her to get her heart broken?"

Taking off her bra, Maurecia put her arm's over her chest and sighed. "I can see why your stressed, it's a tough descision."

" _Well what should I do?!_ " She exclaimed.

"I would-" Maurecia paused in a moment of consideration. "I would let event's unfold. If you interfere, thing's will only exacerbate."

Sekai gave an exhausted sigh of defeat.

"But it's _your_ choice." Maurecia added. "Do what _you_ think is right.

"Thank you for your advice Maurecia." She smiled finally picking out a large blank canvas, walking back to her bed where her eazel stood.

She took several minuet's to attach the canvas to the eazel. She then picked up her sketching pencil and looked towards's her bed where her model lay stretched out head to toe completly naked with fake bowel's of fruit covering her breast's and lower area. Maurecia ran her finger's through her hair, and gave Sekai a piercing look that shook her to the very core.

"Take your time-" She said quietly with a hint of confidence. "And we'll see how you have improved..."

" _My Apprentice_."

 _..._

 _"Can I have an ice cream Maurecia?" whined a seven year old Sekai, as she and her guardian walked across the busy town._

 _"Soon Sekai, soon." Her guardian assured her. "But first I want to take you somewhere."_

 _"Where?" She asked curiously tilting her head slightly._

 _"You'll see." Maurecia chuckled patting, her gently on the head._

 _Sekai was an extremely short child compared to other's her age. She wore thick round spectacles, her hair was tied back in a ponytail with a red bow on top of her head and dressed in a one piece overall with a yellow shirt and pink shoes._

 _They soon reached their destination, a tall white marble building with hundred's of people cued outside._

 _"The museum?!" Sekai whined. "But it's boring!"_

 _"Trust me Sekai, you'll love it!" Maurecia tried to assure her with a hint of excitment in her voice._

 _"Fine! But after this I'd like two ice creams instead of one!" She grumbled gesturing her fingers to sigify the number two._

 _As they entered the packed museum Sekai noticed something that instantly caught her eye. A huge sign just through the main hallfway with a black and white photograph of an elderly man wearing a black beret. Next to the photograph were the words:_

 _ **PABLO PICASSO EXHIBITION!**_

 _She looked at the sign open mouthed in complete amazment._

 _"P-p-p-pablo-" still mesmerized, Sekai struggled to pronouce the name._

 _"Pablo Picasso." Maurecia explained. "He was a famous artist."_

 _"So he drew pictures?" Her eye's to widened with curiosity. "Did he draw manga?"_

 _"Oh no!" Maurecia laughed. "He drew a wide variety of thing's that are very different from those DragonBall or Sailor Moon thing's you like."_

 _"Hmm." Sekai grumbled with disappointment._

 _They walked into a large room, which due to her height from Sekai's point of view looked absolutly enormous. Dozen's of painting's hung across the wall and as she looked through all of them Sekai became even more amazed._

 _The painting's such as Child with a dove, The blind man's meal, Les Demoiselles D'Avignon, The three musician's, overleaf, The crucifixion febuary, largest still life with a pedestal table, Guernica, weeping woman and many many more amazed and fascinated Sekai to the point of tears._

 _ **(Note to readers: These are all actual painting's by Picasso, look them up they are amazing!)**_

 _"Sekai!" Maurecia gasped. "Why are you crying?!"_

 _"I-i-i-i-it's all so beautiful!" She choked wiping her eye's with her sleeves before being given a tissue by maurecia._

 _"Picasso was an amazing artist." Maurecia remarked. "The greatest of his time in my opinion."_

 _Within the hour the two left the exhibition, with Sekai leaving with a more insightful and determined attitude._

 _"So do you want your ice cream now Sekai?"_

 _"No!" Sekai exclaimed, stopping in her tracks. "I want to buy a sketchbook!"_

 _"A sketchbook?"_

 _"Yes!" Sekai nodded. "I want to become an artist! I'll practice lot's and lot's until I become just as good if not better than Picasso!" She was suddenly picked up by Maurecia and embraced in a tight hug._

 _"Oh Sekai!" She squeeled with excitment. "I'm so proud of you!"_

 _..._

 _From that day onward's Sekai practiced non stop day and night, to improve her drawing style. Whenever she had free time she would draw and read book after book after book about the history of art, how to draw and the biography's of a wide variety of artist's from Picasso, to Van Gogh, to Claude Monet. She would soon vastly improve much to the annoyance of her classmates._

 _"Only adult's can be artist's moron!"_

 _"Kyou!" Sekai whined as her work was snatched from her. It was a drawing that she had spent the last several day's working on._

 _"S-sis!" A young Ryou shrieked. "G-give her back her-"_

 _"Quiet!" Kyou growled, punching her sister on the arm hard. "Or I'll do to you what what I'm gonna do to her!" and proceeded to tear up Sekai's drawing ripping it into thousand's of tiny pieces._

 _At that point Sekai paused in a moment of grief, dispair and anger. Something that she had created using all her time, resources and effort had been destroyed within a matter of seconds._

 _It felt to Sekai, like a mother losing her child._

 _Musturing up enougth courage, she stood up from her chair and to the suprise of the two girl's grabbed Kyou by the collar._

 _"How dare you-" But her word's were cut short as Kyou punched her in the face._

 _"Do that again and I'll strangle you!" Kyou exclaimed clicking her finger's at Ryou. "Keep hold of Sekai!"_

 _"B-but-"_

 _"DO IT!"_

 _Reluctantly Ryou held onto Sekai with her arm's around her, making her unable to move._

 _"Now let's see..." Kyou murmered taking out her pencil case from her pocket, unzipping it and bringing out a red felt-tip pen. She pulled up Sekai's frindge and wrote "Loser" on her forehead. She then brought out a little mirror from her pencil case and showed Sekai her reflection._

 _"See?" She chuckled. "Your a loser Sekai and that's all you ever will be!"_

 _"Come on sis!" She laughed. "Let's go and have lunch!"_

 _Ryou released Sekai and as the two left the classroom, Ryou turned her head and whispered "I'm sorry!" before leaving the room and leaving Sekai alone._

 _"I-I will be an artist!" Sekai whimpered to herself as her eye's started to run with heavy tears. "I'll prove her wrong! I'll prove everyone wrong and become the greatest artist of my time!"_

 _Not only at that point did her passion become stronger but so did her determination. With Maurecia taking her on as her apprentice, she studied watercolour and acrylic's testing many different method's and techniques._

 _Although many including her parent's felt that all this was a waste of time Sekai did the best she could at achieving the goal of becoming the greatest artist of her time._

...

"Miss. Tsugumi!" Maurecia exclaimed.

"W-what?" Sekai gasped, suddenly noticing her surrounding's. "S-sorry!" She laughed embarassed. "Got lost in thought there, let me put on some music!"

"As long as you dont get distracted."

She walked over to her CD/Tape player, checked that there was a disc inserted and clicked the play button. Walking back she adjusted her glasses and took a deep breath waiting paciently for the music to start.

" _Dun, Dun, Dun Dun! Dun, Dun, Dun, Duuuuuuuuuuuuuun!_ "

" _Beethoven's fifth_." She smiled. "My favorite."

As she looked upon her figure and began drawing refference lines. She could feel her heart pounding through her ears, becoming more and more excited with every beat. As she took her brush, carving the colour's into shape's, she felt calm and relaxed as though she were being transported into a magical wonderland where nothing else mattered with all her problems becoming non-existant.

It was difficult to put into word's but this, to Sekai was what being an artist was all about.

 **To be continued.**


	52. Chapter 51: Grief

**Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 51: Grief.**

A couple days had past, another dark and humid night cast itself upon the city of Hikarizaka the sound of whistling howling through the air.

In a quiet flat in his bedroom, James Walker clenched his teeth furiously, drips of sweat trickling down his forehead, his arms feeling like lead weights shaking violently as he moved his upper body towards and away from the ground repeatedly.

"1….. 2….. 3….. 4….."

He fell flat faced down onto the ground giving a loud gasp of exhaustion and fatigue.

"OK! That's enough for tonight!" He sighed, pulling himself up from the carpet floor, raising his hand into the air signalling for Kappei who sat by the door on an old wooden stool, holding a glass of milk to help him back up. Rolling his eyes Kappei carefully placed the glass of milk onto the floor, outstretched his hand and pulled James up.

"Gee-" Kappei grunted, struggling to help James. "One set of press-ups and your already throwing in the towel!"

"My arms feel heavy if I do them too long!" James whined, as he got back onto his feet wobbling about slightly, trying to regain his balance.

"Careful!" Kappei chuckled. Bending down he picked up the glass of milk and passed it to James. Without thinking James snatched the glass from Kappei's hands and greedily gulped down the entirety of it within seconds. He choked suddenly, forcefully shutting his hands over his mouth to prevent milk from splattering everywhere. He forced himself to swallow, giving a loud gasp upon moving away his hands, proceeding to clutch his throat.

"Bloody Nora, that's cold!"

"What do you expect?" Kappei smirked, desperately trying not to laugh. "It was more or less straight out of the fridge!"

All of a sudden there was the faint sound of a knock coming from outside the front door. The two boys looked at each other with raised eyebrows and intense curiosity.

"Aye-up!" James whispered. "Who's that knocking at this time of night?!"

"I don't know!" Kappei Whispered. "I'll answer it, it's not like I'm gonna find Bela Lugosi at the front door!" He slowly opened the bedroom door unintentionally causing it to creak loudly on its hinges. James shut the door behind leaving him alone. He shut off his light, walked towards his tiny window, placed the empty glass on his bedside table, sat on his bed and proceeded to gaze up at the brightly lit crescent moon, Its rays reflecting into his bedroom giving it an almost mysterious look.

"It's so beautiful." He sighed.

The door suddenly opened again. James turned his head into it's direction. He was suddenly opened mouthed, his eyes widening, his heart racing.

"Hello James." Came the cheerful voice of Kotomi Ichinose. She stood in the doorway wearing a black dress, the rays of the moonlight casting itself over her like a beautiful angel. Still open mouthed James slowly rose from his bed pinching himself hard to assure himself, he wasn't dreaming. " _Ouch!_ " Kotomi began to slowly walk towards him and as they came face to face they stopped and stared at each other, their hearts feeling as though they were melting, their eyes glittering in the moonlight.

James slowly moved his slightly shaking arms, gently placing his hands onto her cheeks.

"Is-" He cleared his throat, his voice trembling over the terrifying thought that this whole scenario could just be a cruel dream. "Is it really you?"

"Yes!" She smiled, beginning to blush. "It's really me!"

James face slowly crept into a smile chuckling silently before bursting into a fit of tears. He wrapped his arms around Kotomi tightly hugging her and stroking the back of her head.

"I-I-I Cant believe it's really you!" He choked, blubbering loudly.

Kotomi moved him over towards the bed, taking several minuets to eventually calm him down. James proceeded to explain everything: About his mum, the possibility of moving back to England and what had been going on with Sekai just before the breakdown.

"I'm so sorry James!" Now she was beginning to cry as well. "I should have been there for you!" Now it was James turn to calm Kotomi down, putting his hands to her cheeks wiping away her tears. "We both needed each other." He whispered. "If our relationship is to continue we need to be open towards one another. _No secrets_." He felt his heart skip a beat in anxiety.

"We are still dating aren't we?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing." She replied. "I love you and I couldn't live without you!" They proceeded to kiss, falling sideways onto the bed. They stared at each other, breathing heavily hearts pounding and hands on each others shoulders. "Please!" Kotomi's voice was beginning to turn into a faint whisper. "Don't ever leave me! Your all I have left!"

"Don't worry, I wont!" He replied. "Your my beautiful angel and I love you! I love you so much!"

They began to passionately kiss each other, their bodies feeling hot and tingly. James slowly started to remove the clothing from Kotomi's shoulders, pulling them down. There was suddenly a loud knock on the door causing the two to abruptly stop.

"Hello?" Kappei asked from outside the door. "You guys OK?"

"Y-yes!" The two replied simultaneously, hurriedly standing up from the bed, straightening themselves up. They rushed towards the door, opening it and were greeted by a perplexed looking Kappai.

"Um..." He cleared his throat. "Were you guys-"

" _What do you want?!_ " James snapped, Kotomi hiding behind him both hands on his shoulders, hiding her deeply blushing face behind his back.

"I-I made tea for you both." He chuckled nervously. "It's in the front room."

"Thanks. Come on Kotomi." He signalled for her to follow as the two left the room and headed for the front room. James was very much surprised to find a familiar face sitting down drinking tea.

"Okazaki!" James exclaimed loudly. So loud in fact, Kappai had to place his hand over James' mouth. " _Ssshhh!_ " He whispered harshly. "You'll wake your mum up!"

"How are you man?" Okazaki asked James as everyone else took a seat. "I'm good." James replied, picking up the cup and saucer, taking a small sip from the cup. "Why are you-"

"He walked with me to your place." Kotomi interrupted. "I also… told him _about us_."

James paused for a moment, took another sip of tea before placing the cup and saucer back onto the table. "I see."

"If your fine with me saying this, I hope you've been able to sort your relationship out." Okazaki said.

"Yeah." James nodded. "We're still together."

Okazaki and Kappai both smiled, glad that things had worked out between them.

"So, why did you keep it a secret from all of us?" Okazaki asked curiously.

James and Kotomi both looked at each other feeling full of anxiety. Grasping each others hands, things remained in an awkward silence until Kotomi finally decided to break the silence.

"We felt it best to keep it secret in case things didn't work out."

"We did plan to tell you all eventually if things did go well. "James finished. "In hindsight, probably wasn't the best idea."

"If you were worried over what we'd all think you'd needn't be." Kappai said. "Your both really cute together."

Kotomi, blushing a very dark red covered her face with her hands. "Thank you!" came a muffled cry. "Shut up Kappai!" an embarrassed James blushed, throwing a chair cushion at him. Kappai quickly dodged the assault, blocking it with his arms, causing the pillow to fall onto the table, knocking over all four cups, their contents dripping onto the floor. Everyone looked open mouthed before bursting into a fit of hysterical laughter.

….

After a lot of talking and joking around they all agreed that tomorrow would be the perfect opportunity to tell everyone else in the Drama-Club about James and Kotomi's relationship, as tomorrow was also Kotomi's birthday. The four of them, stood outside the front door of the flat saying goodbye to one another. Kotomi kissed James on the lips " _I love you_." before walking down the staircase with Okazaki.

"Shame your mum couldn't meet her this time." Kappai remarked, placing his hands on his hips. "Yeah." James mumbled. "One day she will. _One day_."

…..

The next day their was tension in the air as James, Okazaki Kyou, Ryou and Nagisa all waited outside the front gate of the school.

"Please come, Kotomi!" James thought crossing his fingers. "Please!"

"There she is!" Nagisa suddenly shouted much to the surprise of everyone. She pointed just beyond the gate and there was Kotomi walking towards the school, smiling nervously. All five of them ran towards her happy to see their friend safe and well.

"Hi there!" Kyou waved.

"It's great to see you again, Kotomi." Ryou said.

Kotomi bowed her head. "It's great to see everyone." She blushed. "Were you all waiting for me?"

"Of course, we're all friends after all." Nagisa said.

"Here you go!" Kyou exclaimed enthusiastic, giving Kotomi a piece of brightly coloured paper. The paper had an orange background with four dango's spread around it. One red, one blue, one green and one purple with Kanji lettering spread across the paper which read:

" _Violin gift certificate?_ " Kotomi read out-loud curiously.

"Actually it's the violin you loved playing so much." Nagisa explained. "We were planning to give it to you on your birthday, but it got a little messed up. But it should be repaired soon."

James and Ryou quickly rummaged through their bags, each taking out a wrapped package, passing it to Kotomi.

"Happy birthday!" They both said simultaneously.

"We went into town the other day and both bought you a gift. James said.

Kotomi smiled cheerfully starting to become teary eyed. "Thank you all so much!"

"Sekai also bought you a birthday gift." James added much to Kotomi's surprise. "Hopefully she remembered to bring it."

Kotomi's eyes widened with an intense level of amazement and curiosity. "Sekai?"

"Ichinose!" A voice suddenly called out, diverting everyone's attention back towards the school. The head-teacher of class-A walked towards them. She had blue hair, wore glasses, a blue suit and black trousers."It's good to see you." She said, reaching the group. "I'm glad your feeling well enough to come back to school."

"Thank you." Kotomi bowed her head. "And good morning miss."

"Good morning." The teacher replied. "Your guardian called and said he was going to stop by and pay you a visit. Apparently he has something important to give you."

Kotomi suddenly began to look very nervous.

"Come on, don't worry about it." Okazaki said.

"Yeah!" James tried, as enthusiastically as he could to cheer her up. "He's really not as bad as you think."

"Tell you what, how about we have him meet you in the Drama-Club room?" Kyou said. "If we do that you wont be so nervous around him right?"

"You don't have to be scared, we'll be with you." Nagisa assured her.

"That's right we're in this together." Ryou exclaimed.

After a few seconds Kotomi finally came to a decision. "OK."

Well if you feel that's appropriate Ichinose, I'll phone up your guardian and let him know." The teacher said clapped her hands, turned around and walked back towards the school.

Still feeling full of anxiety and somewhat frightened at the prospect of talking with her guardian, Kotomi walked over to James grasped his arm clinging to it tightly and tilted her head onto his shoulder.

"I want to go to class now."

Without a word James nodded. He could feel her breathing heavily and shaking slightly. _She was beginning to panic._ Everyone watched, slightly perplexed with the exception of Okazaki as the two walked upwards towards the school.

"It'll be OK." He whispered, kissing her on the cheek.

Nagisa, Ryou and Kyou all stared open mouthed.

James turned his head to address them. " _We're dating_." He said in a monotone voice.

" _WHAT?!_ " The three girls exclaimed.

"I-I cant believe it!" Nagisa stuttered.

Kyou turned her head. "Okazaki, did you-"

"They told me last night." He replied. "They've been going out for a few weeks."

"You know I had a feel _something_ was going on between those two." Kyou remarked. "What about you Ryou?

Ryou just continued to remain open mouthed, frozen in place.

"Ryou?" Kyou asked worriedly and clicked her fingers. "Snap out of it!"

"W-what?" Ryou suddenly came back to her senses. "Y-yeah." She stuttered under her breath. "Look we'd better be heading to class."

"Fujibayashi, We've still got half an hour." Okazaki said confused.

"I-I have things to do!" She exclaimed, rushing to the school building as the others looked on completely unaware that she was feeling hurt and betrayed.

…...

Outside Class-A Sekai, Hana and Chiaki were waiting for Kotomi. The two girls were increasingly becoming impatient by the minuet whilst Sekai stood with her arms folded around her chest feeling incredibly anxious.

"Whens the bitch gonna show up?!

"Don't talk about her like that!" Sekai snapped, before taking a deep breath trying to relax. James said she'd be here so have some patience!"

Hana and Chiaki rolled their eyes with Chiaki suddenly turning her facial expression into a slight gin. "Speak of the devil!"

There was Kotomi clinging to James' arm, looking slightly worried upon noticing the three.

"Aye-up!" James waved.

Sekai's eyes widened giving a loud gasp. "Ichinose!" She ran towards her with lightning speed, embracing her in a tight hug causing James to chuckle faintly while Hana and Chiaki stood in shock.

"I'm so glad your OK!" She squealed on the verge of tears of joy.

"Sekai-" Kotomi muffled.

"I've been so worried about you!"

"Um, Sekai-" James interrupted. "I think you might be suffocating her."

"Huh?" She suddenly noticed she was covering Kotomi's nose and mouth with one of her arms and immediately let go. "S-sorry about that!" She chuckled. "But seriously it's great to have you back!"

Kotomi took a step back, giving a faint gasp. "B-but-" She stuttered confused. "I thought you hated me!"

Sekai shook her head. "No. That is to say at one time I did but since meeting James, I got to know you better and see what an amazing person you are!"

"I think I'm gonna hurl!" Chiaki whispered to Hana.

Sekai then proceeded to hug James much to his surprise. "Thank you so much!"

"I-It's nothing!" He blushed.

"So-"Kotomi said as Sekai released James from the hug. "You want to be friends?"

"Yes!" She replied enthusiasticly.

Completely in shock, Kotomi averted her attention to the floor. "I-"

Sekai instantly felt her heart beat loudly, the sound ringing through her ears. James raised an eyebrow waiting for a response and even Hana and Chiaki seemed interested.

"I-I don't-"

"Tell you what!" James interrupted. "Take some time to think about it then the two of you during either first or second break can talk in private about it.

"Good idea!" Sekai sighed. "Hana and Chiaki will come too!"

Chiaki hummed for a second. "Um- I'm not sure-" She was suddenly interrupted by Hana elbowing her in the stomach. "Yeah, we'll be there James!" Hana chuckled before whispering into Chiakai's ear. " _This'll be a great opportunity to beat Sekai up!_ "

"Oooohhh!" Chiaki replied giving a child-like laugh.

"Right then!" James clapped his hands, the sound echoing into the corridors. "At break the five of us will meet in the Drama-Cl-"

" _SEKAI!_ "

Everyone diverted their attention back towards the corridor.

"Oh it's what's her face!" Hana remarked.

Ryou marched towards the group, Sekai instantly felt anxious as her heart beat loudly like a drum, her stomach feeling tingly and uncomfortable. She placed her hand on her chest trying to remain calm and control her breathing as Ryou came closer and closer to the group, her eyes staring at Sekai with a mixed emotion of deep sadness and betrayal.

Even the others were concerned.

"Ryou!" Kotomi exclaimed. "Are you OK?"

She grabbed Sekai's arm, dragging her down the corridor.

"R-Ryou!" Sekai stuttered in shock.

"I want a word!" Came the reply.

James, Kotomi, Hana and Chiaki all watched stunned.

"I-" James cleared his throat. "I'd better go and follow them!" and he quickly rushed off after them. Kotomi, Hana and Chiaki all looked at each other before taking the initiative quickly following where James had gone.

…...

Ryou rushed Sekai into the reference room, slamming the door shut behind her.

"Ryou, what's this abo-" She suddenly felt a stinging pain to her left cheek, her entire body almost fell towards the floor but she was able to grab hold of a bookshelf keeping her balanced, save for her glasses that flew down onto the floor thankfully not breaking but leaving her completely blind.

Now Sekai knew what this was all about.

"Ryou, what's gotten into you?!" a voice cried out.

Ryou looked in the corner of her eye and there was Yukine Miyazawa polishing the oak table in the centre of the room.

"GET OUT!" Ryou shouted, causing Yukine to quickly leave the room.

Ryou turned her attention back to Sekai. "You lied to me! James told us that he and Kotomi have been going out for the past few weeks!"

"I'm sorry!"

"All this time you've been saying that he's single and that I should ask him out!"

"I'm sorry!"

"But this whole time he's been dating Kotomi and you've been leading me on!"

" _I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!_ " She exclaimed over and over again, falling onto her knees and bursting into a heavy fit of tears. " _W-W-WHAT, WAS I S-S-S-SUPPOSED TO DO?!_ " She choked, tears streaming down her face, her eyes becoming bloodshot. " _T-T-T-THEY WANTED TO KEEP THEIR RELATIONSHIP A SECRET, IN CASE THINGS DIDNT WORK OUT AND I PROMISED I WOULDNT TELL! WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE IN MY SHOES RYOU?!_ "

" _WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE?!_ "

Ryou, thought for a moment slowly reaching back to her senses. "I-I-"

"Ryou."

She gave a terrified gasp, and turned her head, giving a terrified gasp. Her eyes widening on the verge of tears. "J-James!"

There was James standing in the doorway, with Kotomi hiding behind him and Hana and Chiaki peeking through giving faint little chuckles.

"I-I-" James cleared his throat, feeling shocked his cheeks blushing deep in red. "Ryou I didn't know! Y-Y-You like me?!"

She struggled to get the words out, her face blushing a very dark red. "Yes!" She answered in a squeaky voice. "I've had feelings for you, for a while now!"

"B-but-" He stuttered confused. "You said before that I'm like a brother to you!"

"Oooh! Looks like we've got some incest drama!" Hana whispered to Chiaki giving each other little giggles.

"I know!" Ryou replied to James. "And I still think that, but what if... what if I wanted to be _more_ than a friend?!"

James sighed taking a deep breath. "Ryou, I'm flattered that you have feelings for me, but honestly I've only ever really seen you as a friend. Don't get me wrong, I care about you and I hate to have to hurt you like this but I'm dating Kotomi. She's the one I'm in love with and that's how things are. I'm sorry!"

"I see." She replied wiping her tears with her sleeve. "But there's one thing I don't get. I get why you wanted to keep your relationship a secret but why dud you keep it a secret from me? You said before that I'm your best friend, we've been really close ever since we met. Yet you didn't think I could be trusted with your secret?"

James felt his heart sink on the realisation of what he had done. "R-Ryou, I-I'm sorry!" He stuttered. "Your right, I should have told you and I didn't mean to lead you on!"

They all remained silent before Ryou, trying not to cry hurriedly left the room, bolting down the corridor. Everyone else still tried to come to terms with what had just happened.

Kotomi rushed, towards Sekai's aid helping her to find her glasses. "Here you go." She said crouching down onto the floor, picking them up and passing them to her. Sekai placed her glasses over her eyes taking a few moments to adjust her vision. Kotomi then embraced her in a tight hug. "Things will be OK Sekai, you'll see!"

"T-T-T-T-Thank you Ichinose!" Sekai choked under the heavy tears. "Your such a good friend!"

Both Hana and Chiaki, grunted slightly at those last few words,watching Kotomi help Sekai back onto her feet. As they reached the door Sekai mustered the courage to kick James in his lower area, calling him an idiot as he fell to the floor in agonising pain. Hana and Chiaki rolled their eyes at him, proceeding to follow Kotomi and Sekai back to class.

"Like you said we'll meet up in the Drama-Club room at break!" Kotomi called to James.

As he overcame the pain, being able to stand up properly on his feet he noticed in the corner of his eye someone enter the room.

"Yukine." He groaned.

"Is everything OK?" She asked.

"Don't play dumb!" He grunted. "You heard everything didn't you?"

Her eyes moved down to the floor. "Yes and I'm really sorry to hear what's happened between you and Ryou. Do you think there's anything I can do to help?"

He shook his head. "No sorry Yukine but I don't think there's anything you could do. Sorry."

"No it's fine." She replied. "Do you want a quick cup of tea, before the bell rings?"

"Oh yes please!" He replied enthusiastically. "With the way things have gone this morning I could do with a quick brew!"

"Coming right up!" She smiled. She made a quick cup of tea for him, allowing him to add the milk and sugar to suit his own personal taste. As he took a sip from the cup and saucer he began to feel calm and relaxed as the warmth spread through his body.

 _DING DONG DANG DONG!_

As the bell rang across the school James finished his tea, placed the cup on the table and got up to leave.

"Bye Yukine." He waved. "Thanks for the tea."

"Bye James." She smiled half-heartedly "It was nice to see you again. Shame it couldn't have been under better circumstances."

"Yeah." James agreed. "See you later.

"Remember you can always come to me if you need advice!" She called out to him.

…...

Upon entering the classroom, James saw Ryou sitting in the corner, her head buried in her arms on the table. Although her face was obscured it was painfully obvious that she was still in tears. Clearing his throat, James thumped his chest and walked over to her.

"Ryou-"

" _Just go away!_ " She snapped in a whisper.

Feeling guilty and depressed he walked over to his desk, immediately noticing Okazaki in his respective seat having watched him just now.

"Hey man." He whispered. "If you don't mind me asking, what's going on with you and Fujibayashi?

"It's private."Came the reply as he pulled up his chair and sat down.

Okazaki sighed. "It's something to do with you and Kotomi isn't it?"

He hesitated for a brief moment before replying. "Yes."

"James don't worry. "I'm sure things will turn out fine."

"Hope so." He mumbled. "By the way if it's OK, myself, Kotomi and some girls from her class want to use the Drama-Club room for a private discussion. We'll probably be in there during the whole of the first break. Is that alright?"

"Sure." Okazaki replied giving a thumbs up. "I'll let Kyou and Nagisa know."

"Cheers mate."

The teacher entered the room, and it was business as usual after that.

…...

Once class had ended, James brushed himself off, straightened his flat-cap and headed for the door. He noticed Ryou immediately rush out into the corridor. His heart raced frantically, feeling as though he should chase after her and try to talk things out but felt it best not to. Thinking she needed time alone to recover, or at least talk it over with her sister.

"Kyou's gonna kill me!" He thought, gulping nervously. He shook his head ( _causing some students to give him odd looks._ ) preferring to focus on the main issue during the next half hour:

 _Resolving the issue over weather or not Kotomi would feel comfortable becoming friends with Sekai, Hana and Chiaki._

He was certain at least that Sekai was safe. Her attitude towards him and more importantly Kotomi had changed drastically since their first encounter a month and a half ago but with Hana and Chiaki he wasn't so certain. What he was certain on was that they were the key factors in abuse over the past couple of years, with Sekai to an extent being encouraged by them. Although building a friendship with them would be her ( _Kotomi's_ ) choice, he himself wasn't exactly fond of them. Their childish attitudes ( _particularly Chiaki_ ) and dislike towards Kotomi simply because of the fact that she had bigger boobs than either of them.

It all began to make him wonder if this whole meeting was really such a good idea after all, but he brushed off his doubts knowing that it would be Kotomi's choice and not his.

He sighed, preparing himself for what was to come and headed for the Drama-Club room.

…..

Upon reaching the doorway, he found the four girls waiting for him in the corridor. Hana and Chiaki were giggling to themselves again, Sekai looked on at them with a piercing glare, like a hawk about to attack its prey while Kotomi clung to her arm looking, shaken up. She gave a cute little smile upon noticing James rushing over to him and hugging him tightly.

James then kissed her on the cheek. "Ready?"

"Yes!" She replied. "I know I'm safe when I'm with you."

Hana and Chiaki opened the door to the Drama-Club room and went inside closing the door behind them.

"What happened?" James asked Sekai.

"They just tried to _grope_ her again." She whispered. "But don't worry I put my foot down and stopped them."

"Thanks Sekai." James said, as little glimmers of hatred entered his eyes. He held onto Kotomi tightly in order to protect her as the three entered the room.

They laid out a set of four chairs into a circle in the centre of the room. As they were about to take their respective seats Hana suddenly spoke up.

"James is it OK if we have a _private_ word with Sekai?"

James was absolutely gobsmacked. "Wha- Why couldn't you have done that _before_ in the corridor just now?!"

"Because it's private and we didn't want Ichinose listening!" Chiaki snapped.

"Alright no need to get your knickers in a twist!" He sighed, waving his hands in the air. "Come on Kotomi, we'll wait outside!"

"Ya might as well get a bite to eat." Sekai added as the two were leaving. "Knowing these two I'll be here for a while."

"K, see you later." James waved shutting the door behind him.

Sekai placed her hand on her chest and sighed, before eyeing up Hana and Chiaki who were giggling to themselves again.

"So what did you guys wanna talk about?" She asked rolling her eyes.

Completely ignoring her, Hana and Chiaki, moved a couple of the storage boxes over towards the door making sure no one could get in.

Sekai instantly felt a sudden tingle of anxiety in her stomach. "G-Guys?"

"So-" Chiaki said as the two slowly turned towards her. "Your serious about wanting to be friends with Ichinose?"

"Yes!" She instantly replied, becoming cautious to the fact that they were slowly coming closer towards here. She caught sight of the window behind her and ran but before she could reach it Chiaki had already grabbed her hair, forcefully pulling her back towards them. Chiaki slapped her in the face several times knocking her glasses off, leaving her blind and dizzy. Hana then punched her in the stomach twice and tripped her up, sending her head first onto the floor.

"Please!" Sekai, squeaked, starting to cry as heavy tears ran down her face. "Sto-Ugh!"She suddenly found herself unable to breath, from being punched so hard and felt her body crying out for air to enter her lungs.

Chiaki completely smashed Sekai's glasses with her shoes, before starting to kick and stomp all over her along with Hana.

"Oh we're just getting started!" Chiaki said as the two girls began to laugh.

…...

 _Two Years Earlier._

 _It was Sekai's first day as a freshmen at Hikarizaka private high school. Break had just started and everyone left the classroom with the exception of her. She felt extremely self conscious and shy at the prospect of making friends, especially due to the painful memories and emotional scars from primary school. She rummaged through her bag, bringing out an A4 sketchbook and gazed through the window outside for inspiration. She watched students enjoying themselves, eating snacks and sitting at benches talking but her interest particularly came more from the more natural scenery such as the grass and the trees, with crumbling leaves blowing faintly in the wind._

 _As she took pencil to paper, preparing to draw, she noticed two girls approaching, causing her to feel anxious._

" _Hey!" One of the girls sporting short raven hair, reaching just above her shoulders exclaimed._

 _Sekai instantly felt her body fill with anxiety. "H-Hey." She mumbled, blushing and embarrassed._

" _What was that?" The other girl with long flowing brown hair asked._

" _I-" She cleared her throat trying to muster up the courage to speak clearly. "I said hey!" She exclaimed far louder than she meant too, forcing her mouth shut with her hands, her cheeks burning red with embarrassment._

 _The two girls burst into a loud fit of laughter._

" _Oh, just go away and leave me alone!" She whined trying not to cry, and get back to drawing._

" _Hey, hey we're just clowning around." The girl with brown hair said. "Your name's Sekai right? Sekai Tsugumi?"_

" _Y-Yes!" She stuttered, surprised that the girl knew her name. "And you are?"_

" _I'm Hana Nagami." The girl bowed. "And she's Chiaki Mai." The girl gestured her hand to the girl with the raven hair, who also bowed._

" _I see." Sekai smiled awkwardly._

" _Look if it's OK can we hang out with you?" Hana blushed slightly. "We don't really know anyone at this school and aren't too good with socialising."_

" _Yeah sure!"She replied, her eyes widening as her face began to smile._

" _Thank you so much!" Both girls said._

 _From that day forward the three girls stuck together like glue, constantly being in each others company save for the periods, Sekai would want to be alone in order to draw as Hana and Chiaki much to her dismay had little to no interest in the arts._

 _During their breaks Hana and Chiaki would discuss the subject of boys which Sekai had no interest in having never been in love, finding the whole idea of such things to be pointless drama. Hana and Chiaki often complained about not having boyfriends and the fact guys never seemed to notice them but would always talk about other girls in their class._

 _Especially one in particular..._

" _Did you see that girl?" A male student asked a friend in class one day. "You know the one that's in our class but is allowed to work independently?"_

" _Oh you mean Kotomi Ichinose?" The friend replied. "Yeah, my god she looks stunning!"_

" _I know!" he replied. "Never seen someone so beautiful! But it's near impossible to get a word out of her. She just sits in the library reading books all day."_

" _Probably prefers to focus on her work."_

" _More like she thinks she's better than all of us!" Chiaki remarked to Hana and Sekai, the three having listened in on the conversation._

" _Yeah" Hana exclaimed. "I mean she never attends classes and ignores everyone who talks to her, she clearly thinks she's better than everyone!"_

 _Sekai nodded. "Never liked her, even before school." She spat. "Spoiled bitch!"_

 _Hana and Chiaki looked amazed at her uncharacteristic outburst, which she instantly caught wind of and decided to elaborate._

" _We live on the same street. Her parents were famous scholars and spoiled that kid rotten." Her fists clenched in anger, starting to shake as she clenched her teeth. The memories of a personal vendetta known only to her fuelled her with rage._

" _Were?" Hana asked curiously._

" _They died in a plane crash about eight years ago." Sekai said. "It was all over the news at the time."_

" _Oh." Both Hana and Chiaki, actually showed some small thread of sympathy._

" _Maybe it's because of that, that she keeps herself so closed off from everyone." Hana theorised._

" _Yeah. Chiaki agreed. "Maybe we should see if we can be friends with her."_

 _They both turned their heads to Sekai, eagerly awaiting her response. She rolled her eyes and groaned. "Fine!"_

… _.._

 _They headed for the library, during the following break and found Kotomi sat on the floor completely engrossed in books._

" _Whoa!" Chiaki gasped in awe. "She's pretty!"_

" _Yeah and look at that chest!" Hana remarked. "It's no wonder all the guys go gaga over her!"_

" _She's not that good looking!" Sekai growled with a hint of venom and jealousy in her voice, her eyes gleaming with hatred._

" _Well-" Chiaki said walking towards Kotomi. "Here I go!" and she sat down next to her. "Hey!" She waved cheerfully. However there was no response, Kotomi just continued to read her books completely oblivious to the others._

 _Sekai rolled her eyes giving a faint grumble._

" _Let me try." Hana said, walking over to join Chiaki._

" _Hey!" Hana waved. "Ichinose!"_

 _Again she was completely oblivious to any of this._

" _Like I said it's not worth the effort. "Sekai scoffed. "She's just an anti-social bitch!"_

" _You know what, your right!" Chiaki agreed. "I mean look at the kind of books she's reading! Einstein and Stephen Hawkin! There's no way we could even attempt to understand the kind of stuff that's in these books!"_

" _Yeah." Hana sighed in defeat, knowing full well what Chiaki said was true._

 _As they got up and prepared to leave (Chiaki remarked that the whole thing had been a waste of time.) Sekai couldn't take bottling up her emotions any more. She picked up a book and threw it right at Kotomi's head hitting her at point blank range. Hana and Chiaki were completely gobsmacked, never having seen her lose her temper in such a way. Kotomi came to her senses, giving a faint whimper, rubbing her head and turning her attention to the trio of girls standing before her. "S-Sekai!" She stuttered shocked, and feeling shaken up. "W-Why did you?"_

 _Sekai gave a loud scream, her eyes becoming bloodshot as she lunged at Kotomi, chocking her with both hands grasped around her throat before starting to continuously punch her in the face._

" _I HATE YOU!, I HATE YOU!,I HATE YOU!"_

 _She shouted at the top of her lungs over and over and over again, the noise echoing throughout the whole library. Kotomi completely shocked and terrified at the whole ordeal tried to cover her face with her arms. Hana and Chiaki then decided to join in, kicking her._

" _This'll teach you, you bitch!" Hana smirked. "Teach you to stop thinking your better than everyone!" Chiaki exclaimed._

 _After that the bullying became a constant issue for Kotomi. Day after day, week after week, punching choking, verbal abuse, being spat on, having her hair pulled out, cut up and torn Kotomi had to endure it all. Hana and Chiaki bullying her over their own insecurities, self conscious issues and lack of attention from boys, whilst Sekai had her own reason for bullying her._

 _Something deep and personal, known only to her..._

… _.._

 _Present day:_

"Do you think Sekai, will be alright?" Kotomi asked as she and James browsed through the cafeteria's selection of flavoured drinks and sandwiches.

"Yeah most likely." He replied half listening as he looked at the prices for the sandwiches. ( _Daylight robbery!_ ) "Hana and Chiaki are her friends after all."

"I know, it's just I worry-"

"You don't really wanna be friends with them do you?" He cut her off dryly.

Kotomi shook her head, which admittedly, James couldn't help but find cute.

"No I'm fine with Sekai. I genuinely believe she's changed but..." Her voice became fainter. "It's Hana and Chiaki."

James grasped her hand in comfort, stroking her hair.

"The amount of times they've _choked me_ , _pulled my hair_ , _tried to cut it_ -" She counted with her fingers.

"Don't worry." James said hugging her. "I wont let them or _anyone_ else ever hurt you again. Your my girlfriend and I want to protect you."

Kotomi, becoming ever so emotional began to cry. "Thank you!"

" _HEY!_ " A familiar voice growled at the two. Before he could turn his head, he felt a hand grab the back of his neck pulling him away from Kotomi.

"Kyou!" Kotomi exclaimed.

"Sorry Kotomi, but I'm borrowing your boyfriend for a moment!" Kyou said, as she dragged him out of the room.

"K-Kyou, let go!" James gagged as she forcefully dragged him down the corridor.

"You be quiet!" She snapped. "I'm pissed off with you enough as it is! Where's Sekai?!"

"In the Drama-Club room!" He replied. "But it's not her fault!"

But his words fell upon deaf ears.

" _I'm not gonna forgive anyone who makes my little sister cry!_ " She thought.

Once reaching the Drama-Club room, She threw him to the floor.

"Stay right there!" She pointed at him before turning to the door. She grabbed the handle and turned it.

 _It wouldn't open._

She tried again to open the door, via the handle but still no luck. "I thought you said she was in here!"

"She is!" James remarked, slowly getting back on his feet. "Or at least she should be."

"The doors blocked!" She suddenly realised, trying to peer through the window.

" _What?_ " James rushed to the door and looked through the little window. "Your right!" He exclaimed. "The doors been blocked with all the storage boxes!" He continued to peer through the window, trying to see what was going on inside. "Kyou, I don't like this and I'm worried!"

Suddenly there was a blood curdling screaming from inside that shook both of them to the core.

" _MUMMY! DADDY!_ "

The scream was ear piercing and like that of a young child.

Kyou turned to James and grasped his shoulders, her fingernails digging into them. "Quick!" She snapped. "Hurry and find a teacher!" I'll go outside and see if I can get in through the window!"

"OK!" James nodded trying not to panic. "Just be careful!" And the two of them quickly ran down their respective ends of the corridor. James going right and Kyou going left.

As James sped through the hallway, dodging and jumping over passing students he came across a worried looking Kotomi, running towards him, with both skidding in their tracks in order to stop each other crashing into one another.

"James!" Kotomi cried. "Are you OK?! Kyou didn't hurt you did she?!"

He shook his head. "No I'm fine. Look we need to find a teacher and quickly! Sekai's in trouble!"

Kotomi gasped. "Is Kyou-"

"It's not Kyou" He interrupted grabbing her hand, continuing to run. "Hana and Chiaki barricaded the room and are beating her up!"

"But I thought they were her friends?" She asked confused.

"I don't know what else to tell you Kotomi but some major shits going down!"

As he ran feeling out of breath, his chest burning he couldn't stop thinking about Sekai, wondering if she would be OK after all this. First a dramatic confrontation with Ryou and now her best friends whom she'd known for years had betrayed her.

No-one could exactly be normal after suffering this much drama in one day...

… _..._

" _I want my mummy, I want my daddy! I want my mummy, I want my daddy! I want my mummy, I want my daddy I want my mummy, I want my daddy!_ " Sekai cried over and over and over again. Beginning to hyperventilate, her hair a ripped mess stuck to her face where she had been crying, her whole body shook violently becoming numb to all the kicking and stomping it had endured.

"Wow, I cant believe we let this bitch push us around, all these years! Hana laughed.

"I know, what a wuss!" Chiaki agreed.

They were completely oblivious to Kyou sneaking in through the window. When they finally did notice it was too late.

"Oh crap!"

…..

James, Kotomi and the head teacher of Class-A rushed down towards the Drama-Club room.

"Just down this way miss!" James coughed, feeling exhausted.

"Thank you Mr. Walker but I do know the layout of the school!"

"I only hope-" Kotomi gasped. "Sekai, isn't badly hurt!"

As they reached the Drama-Club room they were surprised by what they found.

"The doors open!" James exclaimed.

All three rushed into the room, only to find Hana and Chiaki, each tied to a chair.

"Hehehehe, Hi!" Chiaki chuckled, sounding a little dazed, both had clear cuts and bruises on their faces not to mention black eyes and swollen lips.

"I'll sort these two out." The teacher said, entering the room. "I imagine Tsugumi has been taken to the first-aid You'd best join her."

And without another word the two ran off to do just that.

…...

Upon reaching the first-aid room they found Sekai laying on a bed, with Kyou sat next to her on a chair comforting her. The two were in instant shock upon seeing the state, Sekai was in. Her face was bloodied with scratches and bruises, where she'd been punched and kicked. Her lips swollen, parts of her hair had been torn out and there were deep red marks around her neck where she had been choked with aggressive force.

"Oh, Sekai!" The two gasped completely in shock at seeing what Hana and Chiaki had done. Kotomi, beginning to burst into tears hugged James, burying her head in his chest. "I cant believe they did this!" She muffled.

James was at a total loss for words. Like Kotomi he couldn't believe that someone could do such a thing to another person. Even back home in England it was common for friends to fall out with each other, and of course slightly more spiteful people would beat the other up in retribution but never on this sort of scale had he seen anything so horrific. It gave him Deja-vu of his own traumatic ordeal during his last few weeks at his previous school.

Just thinking about it made him feel the impact of the punches to his head, being strangled with the seat-belt on the bus and being rushed down the corridors of the school, with the teachers barricading him inside a classroom as the savage bully continuously called him name over and over again at the top of his lungs, wanting to tear him apart like a hyena attacking its prey.

James felt his eyes twitch, his mouth curving into a psychotic grin. He clenched his teeth as he tried not to laugh, causing his head to pound in beats like a headache.

"I want my Mummy and Daddy, _I want my Mummy and Daddy_ , _I want my Mummy and Daddy_ , _I want my Mummy and Daddy!_ " Sekai cried over and over again, her voice becoming a faint whisper.

"Ssshhh, It's OK Sekai." Kyou whispered, gently stroking her head. "I'm here to look after you. Kyou's here."

"Kotomi stay here!" James said to her. The tone of his voice sounding almost demonic and unnatural.

"James!" She cried. "Why-"

" _Do as I say_!" He snapped.

"James!" Kyou snapped, watching him about to leave. "Don't! I can read you like a book, don't you dare do anything stupid!"

"Kyou just shut up and look after Sekai!" He snapped, leaving the room.

"Go after him!" Kyou said to Kotomi who nodded in agreement. "Make sure he doesn't do anything idiotic, and you be careful also Kotomi!"

"I will!" Kotomi said, rushing out after James to follow him.

Although she wouldn't admit it, Kyou was of course deeply worried for James. " _Please be safe!_ " She thought.

…...

"James, wait up!" Kotomi called following him. He turned his head, still walking as he did so. "I thought I told you to look after Sekai!" He growled.

He took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling trying to contemplate his thoughts. After a brief moment he replied. "I'm going to find Hana and Chiaki!"

"James, leave them!" She cried worried for her boyfriends safety. "Don't try to get revenge! Karma will get them!"

"Yeah." James agreed sarcastically. " _I'm their karma!_ "

…...

They found Hana and Chiaki sneaking away into the corridor, giggling to themselves.

"Oi!" He exclaimed pointing at them, alarming other students. "Bonnie and Clyde!"

"Ugh!" Chiaki groaned rolling her eyes. "What do you want, you _f#####g_ weirdo?!"

"You-You think you can just walk away from this?! He spat, trying to control his temper. "After what you did to Sekai?!"

"The bitch deserved it!" Hana exclaimed. "Your lucky we didn't go after you two as well!"

"Sekai was your friend!" She loved hanging out with you and you've betrayed her!"

"James!" Kotomi exclaimed grabbing his arm. "Just leave them! We'll find a teacher" They'll pay for what they've do-"

"SHUT IT!" He interrupted. " _Whatever happened to friends stick together to the end?!_ It makes me sick!"

"Oh bite me!" Hana exclaimed. "You took Sekai away from us! She was our friend! Since meeting you, she changed! She-"

"Became a _better_ person?" He interrupted.

"She wanted to become friends with Ichinose!" Hana pointed at Kotomi. "As if we'd associate ourselves with her after that!"

"Exactly!" Chiaki agreed. "And if we could, we'd beat her up again, and again and-"

Without thinking, James punched Chiaki in the face with all the strength he could muster in one fist.

" _JAMES!_ " Kotomi shouted at the top of her lungs, covering her mouth with her hands completely in shock. Chiaki almost fell to the floor had Hana not caught her in time. "Oh my god Chiaki are you OK?!"

James suddenly came to his senses. It felt like coming out of a day dream and back into reality. He could feel sweat beginning to drip from his forehead, his hand twitching and shaking, his heart beating, his eyes dilating upon the realisation that all the students had their eyes fixed on him _and only him_.

 _Staring at him._

" _He punched her! That guy actually punched a girl!_ "

" _He's a delinquent" Doesn't he hang out with Okazaki?!_ "

" _I hope he gets suspended!_ "

" _More like expelled!_ "

"Argh!" Chiaki whined in agony as blood trickled through her fingers. "I think he broke my nose!"

"You-Your a psycho!" Hana cried hugging Chiaki as the two backed away slowly.

"Kotomi-" He struggled to speak with sheer disbelief.

" _What have I done?!_ "

 _ **To Be Continued.**_


End file.
